"Ray Charles was doing two back-to-back shows on the same night. In the middle of the first show, his manager told me, 'Ray wants a chicken-fried steak. And he wants two orders of it as soon as he comes offstage, before he goes on for the second show.' After learning from the on-site chef that he couldn't make it, Lewis and his team rushed to Denny's for an order, which they re-plated and served to the unsuspecting Charles."
"His favorite Creole restaurant in New Orleans was Dooky Chase's Restaurant, which he referenced in his 1961 hit 'Early in the Morning.' His favorite dish at the venue was red beans and rice with, you guessed it, fried chicken. Even years after his passing, Charles' red beans and rice is still available on the restaurant's lunch menu and comes with two pieces of fried chicken and one side."
Ray Charles was a devoted fan of Southern comfort food, particularly chicken-fried steak. During a two-show performance at Humphrey's in New York, Charles requested two orders of chicken-fried steak to be delivered between shows. When the venue's chef couldn't prepare it, manager Brian Lewis rushed to Denny's to obtain the dish, which was then re-plated and served to Charles. Charles declared it the best chicken-fried steak he had ever eaten. Beyond this dish, Charles frequented Dooky Chase's Restaurant in New Orleans, where his favorite meal was red beans and rice with fried chicken, a dish still offered on the restaurant's menu today.
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