Early years While still in high school, Leslie worked at Portia's Fountain on
Rampart Street, first as a delivery boy and later in the kitchen under Chef Bill Turner. One of the featured dishes was a crispy fried chicken garnished with sliced
dill pickles, which the owner taught him to cook. This would become Leslie's signature item over the next fifty years. After high school he worked as a chef's assistant at the
D. H. Holmes restaurant. The Holmes department store catered primarily to relatively affluent
white people, and for the four and half years he worked there Leslie
was not allowed to prepare orders directly for customers, doing prep work instead. In 1964, his Aunt Helen opened Chez Helene and Leslie went to work full-time as the chef.
Chez Helene The original location of the restaurant was on North Robertson Street, near the
French Quarter. It became the classic "underground" restaurant, featuring good food at reasonable prices in an off-the-beaten-path location. Despite the modest surroundings, it was compared favorably to the grand New Orleans restaurants such as
Brennan's,
Antoine's, and
Commander's Palace. In addition to receiving rave reviews from the local food critics, Chez Helene also caught the attention of national food writers such as
R.W. "Johnny" Apple of
The New York Times and
Calvin Trillin. The restaurant served haute creole dishes like
Oysters Rockefeller as well as down-home items like
stuffed bell pepper, smothered cabbage with pig tails, fried
chicken livers, and
mustard greens. His aunt retired in 1975 and sold the restaurant to Leslie. Despite its commercial and culinary success, the North Robertson neighborhood became unsafe. Cab drivers would not travel to the area, and hotel concierges would no longer recommend the restaurant. Leslie moved his business to the
French Quarter and opened a branch in
Chicago. He also tried his hand at running a number of
fried chicken outlets. But the new location did not have the same charm as the original and Leslie eventually closed Chez Helene in 1995 after thirty years of operation. After closing the Chez Helene he wrote and published the cookbook Creole-Soul.
Creole in California In 1992, Chef Austin combined with Oakland, California-based New Orleans Bill Creole Potato Salads/Food wholesale co. to manufacture and distribute Austin's legendary Creole cooking to New Orleans Bill's supermarket customer base all over California. Austin and "New Orleans Bill", a native New Orleanian himself, started by doing Festivals and Supermarket cooking demonstrations all over California.
Denmark and back to New Orleans ,
Louisiana After Chez Helene, Leslie worked for six months in
Denmark as the executive chef of "N'Awlins". He appeared on Danish television and prepared
gumbo and
jambalaya for the
Copenhagen Jazz Festival. == Personal life ==