Willie Mae's of New Orleans brings 'best fried chicken in America' to Los Angeles

Key Facts

(Shelby Moore / For The Times) Willie Mae Seaton died in 2015 and now, 15 years later, 42-year-old Seaton-Stewart stands in the first Willie Mae’s restaurant outside of New Orleans, a newly renovated space on Lincoln Boulevard designed to capture the feeling of the original.
“I don’t do anything out of haste,” she says, explaining how bringing the Louisiana fried chicken to Los Angeles and her friendship with restaurateur-partners Lowell Sharon and Jerry Greenberg was a long time in the making.
A Willie Mae’s fried chicken sandwich is available at HiHo Cheeseburger, and though the Venice location was originally planned to open first, a takeaway menu has been available at the Colony in Santa Monica since September.
She also plans to share the experience of Southern hospitality, with her husband in the kitchen and some of the Willie Mae’s New Orleans team brought here to L.A., serving the same menu with the addition of her gumbo recipe.