UPDATE:  Thursday, February 6. 9:30 a.m.

Ms. Seaton’s great-granddaughter and grandson contacted OffBeat to inform that unfortunately,  Ms. Seaton had to be brought unexpectedly to see doctors at the hospital for health challenges early this morning and will not be able to attend today’s City Council hearing. Therefore, the formal City of New Orleans “Willie Mae Day” inauguration has been postponed. The re-scheduled date is to be announced. Stay tuned to OffBeat.com for further updates.

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In anticipation of her 100th birthday this July, New Orleans City Council is presenting Willie Mae’s Scotch House matriarch Ms. Willie Mae Seaton with a municipal proclamation this Thursday, February 6 at 10 a.m. The proclamation will officially declare February 6 “Willie Mae Seaton Day” in New Orleans beginning this year. Seaton is the founder of the famed Willie Mae’s Scotch House restaurant, lauded for its incomparable fried chicken, among other recipes.

Ms. Willie Mae Seaton

According to Seaton’s grandson, Sir Master Chef Ronnie Seaton, her family has worked with City Council this year to arrange for this grand award honoring Ms. Seaton’s entrepreneurship and culinary contributions to New Orleans’ rich cultural legacy. The humble yet spry 99 year old woman, with possession of possibly the world’s most famous secret fried chicken recipe, operated her Scotch House at the corner of St. Anne and N. Tonti Streets in the city’s historical Treme neighborhood for more than 30 years before Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flood destroyed the shotgun double that housed both her longtime family home and her cherished neighborhood business.

Thanks to the contributions of several soul food loving individuals and charitable organizations following the hurricane, her restaurant was re-built in the years following, confirming its status as a national destination eatery. But beyond the fried chicken is a woman who, against all the odds of her generation as a Black woman in New Orleans during the 20th century, built and maintained both a stable home and a thriving business out of one small, simple frame house.

Now retired for many years, she was a staple in her neighborhood for decades, providing food for civil rights activists in the 1970s, affordable meals for local workers and more. She raised a large family of caring, successful individuals — and her grandson, Ronnie, went on to become Sir Master Chef to the U.S. President beginning with the Reagan administration and will continue to serve in this esteemed position until this June when he retires after more than 30 years serving the U.S. military and federal government. He will be with Ms. Seaton when she arrives at City Council chambers at City Hall Thursday morning to accept her award and proclamation, along with her great-granddaughter and present restaurant manager, Kerry Seaton. The February 6 City Council meeting that includes Ms. Seaton’s proclamation is open to the public.

If you have never been to Willie Mae’s Scotch House for some of Seaton’s prized chicken, cornbread, red beans and rice or bread pudding, this week might be your week to check that off your bucket list. Be sure to tell them that you’re there to celebrate Willie Mae Seaton Day and that OffBeat sent you.

Willie Mae’s Scotch House is located at 2401 St. Anne St. They are open for lunch and early dinner Monday through Saturday. Call 504-822-9503 for hours and info.