from 300 moments that make new orleans unique. 300 › the... · new orleans’ warehouse district...
TRANSCRIPT
300NE W ORLE ANS
TRICENTENNIAL
1718 ~ 2018Emeril opened
‘Emeril’s’ in the
Warehouse district in 1990.
From Bienville to Bourbon Street to bounce. 300 moments that make New Orleans unique. WHAT
HAPPENED
More than his TV shows, or his signature “Bam!” Emeril Lagasse credits
New Orleans for much of his success.
on the Food Network and written 19 cookbooks. He has 13 restaurants, including four in New Orleans: Emeril, Emer-il’s Delmonico, NOLA and Meril, which opened in late 2016. Other restaurants are in Orlando, Las Vegas and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Lagasse moved to Florida, but the head-quarters of his business, Homebase, is still in New Orleans. He’s also visible in the city through his char-ity, the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, which has given $7 mil-lion to children’s charities along the Gulf Coast,
including to the New
Orlea ns C e n -ter for the Creative Arts and St. Mi-
chael Special School. Most of the founda-tion’s charity events, including Carnivale du
Vin and Boudin, Bour-bon and Beer, are held in
New Orleans.
TH
E LIBRA
RY O
F CO
NG
RESS
Lagasse’s chef jacket is in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
After Commander’s Palace, Lagasse opened up a restaurant in the city’s warehouse district when it was still largely warehouses.
Dick and Ella Brennan hired the brash Fall River, Massachusetts, native to suc-ceed Paul Prudhomme as head chef at Commander’s Palace.
While there, he introduced dishes with his signature bold flavors, what he called
“new New O r l e a n s cooking.”
A b o u t eight years later, in 1990, L a g a s s e made anoth-er bold move, o p e n i n g up his own restaurant, Emeril’s, in
New Orleans’ warehouse district when the district was still largely undeveloped.
There, he continued to put his own spin on New Orleans’ cooking, introducing dishes such as andouille-encrusted red-fish. In 1993, he published his first cookbook, “Emeril’s New New Orleans Cooking,” and soon the Food Network was knocking at his door. Lagasse’s flair for the dramatic attracted viewers to his 1995 “Essence of Emer-il” series and gained him chef celebrity status.
Since then, he’s hosted more than 2,000 shows
Ella Brennan mentored Lagasse and helped him find dishes upon which he could place his unique spin.