40 Fun Facts About Emeril Lagasse

In 2006, Emeril Lagasse's jambalaya and rice pudding were delivered to a team of three living where?

The International Space Station received five Emeril dishes, flown up on the shuttle Discovery, and its residents then talked to the chef on live TV. NASA wanted tastier food to lift morale on long missions.

Which musical skill won Emeril Lagasse a conservatory scholarship that he turned down to become a chef?

Percussion was the teenage Lagasse's other talent: he led his high school drum squad, playing dances, banquets and local religious festivals. The offer came from the New England Conservatory of Music.

Which Disney animated film features Emeril Lagasse as the voice of Marlon, a hot-tempered alligator?

The Princess and the Frog cast Lagasse as Marlon, one of the gators who try to eat Tiana and Naveen while the pair are stuck in amphibian form. The 2009 film is set in his adopted city.

Which animated sci-fi series parodies Emeril Lagasse with Elzar, a four-armed alien celebrity chef?

Futurama's Elzar, voiced by John DiMaggio, is a Neptunian with his own restaurant in New New York and a very high opinion of himself.

Which lifestyle mogul's company paid $50 million in 2008 for Emeril Lagasse's shows, cookbooks and product lines?

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia bought the Emeril brand for $45 million in cash and $5 million in stock. Lagasse kept his restaurants and his foundation out of the deal.

Emeril Lagasse's one-word signature exclamation began on long Food Network taping days as a way to do what?

Keep his crew awake was the entire point: on marathon taping days his staff grew sleepy after lunch, so he shouted to jolt them. Viewers liked the shout so much that it stayed.

Which actress plays the cookware saleswoman who idolizes Emeril Lagasse in the 2006 comedy Last Holiday?

Queen Latifah plays Georgia Byrd, who copies Lagasse's recipes at home, and he appears as himself when she finally opens her own restaurant.

Which annual event made Emeril Lagasse its 2008 Grand Marshal, a job that includes a football coin toss?

The Rose Parade's Grand Marshal traditionally joins the coin toss at the Rose Bowl Game, which USC won over Illinois that New Year's Day.

Which ingredient did Emeril Lagasse champion on air, urging viewers to use it for frying and sausage?

Pork fat was one of Lagasse's loudest causes: he told viewers to reach for genuine lard and gave the ingredient a catchphrase of its own.

Emeril Lagasse's New Orleans restaurant Meril, opened in 2016, takes its name from which person in his life?

His daughter Meril gave the restaurant its name. Lagasse planned the casual menu around his travels and the food he likes to cook at home.

In which Massachusetts mill city did Emeril Lagasse grow up, spending time in the kitchen with his mother, Hilda?

Fall River, an old textile city also known for the Lizzie Borden case, is where Lagasse was born in 1959. He studied culinary arts at Diman, its vocational high school.

Emeril Lagasse's mother, Hilda, gave him roots in which European country, whose flavors run through his cooking?

Portugal runs through his mother's side of the family, and Lagasse names its cooking among the influences on his style, along with Asian and Southwestern flavors.

What kind of business gave the teenage Emeril Lagasse the job where he discovered his talent for cooking?

A bakery was his first training ground: he mastered bread and pastry there, then enrolled in his high school's culinary arts program.

Which culinary school did Emeril Lagasse choose over a music scholarship, later receiving its honorary doctorate?

Johnson & Wales, in Providence, Rhode Island, graduated Lagasse in 1978. He paid his tuition by working at a local restaurant.

After culinary school, Emeril Lagasse sharpened his classical technique in two cities of which European country?

France was the finishing school: Lagasse trained in Paris and Lyon, then cooked in fine dining restaurants in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

In 1979, Emeril Lagasse became executive chef of a resort hotel in which Massachusetts vacation area?

Cape Cod's Dunfey's Hyannis Resort put Lagasse in charge of its kitchen only a year after he finished culinary school.

Which Cajun chef, famous for blackened redfish, did Emeril Lagasse replace at a New Orleans restaurant?

Paul Prudhomme left to run K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, the place he had opened with his wife, and a job offer from Dick and Ella Brennan brought Lagasse to New Orleans to fill the post.

Which New Orleans landmark, owned by the Brennan family, had Emeril Lagasse as executive chef for over seven years?

Commander's Palace, a Garden District institution dating to 1893, kept Lagasse as executive chef for seven and a half years before he left to open his own place.

In which then-underdeveloped New Orleans neighborhood did Emeril Lagasse open his flagship, Emeril's, in 1990?

Warehouse District was an unlikely address in 1990, but patrons and critics took to the restaurant at once. Lagasse later opened Meril a few blocks away.

Which magazine named Emeril's its Restaurant of the Year in 1990, the year Emeril Lagasse opened it?

Esquire's critic John Mariani made the call in the restaurant's first year, and the James Beard Foundation gave Lagasse its Southeast regional chef award in 1991.

Which cooking show, among Food Network's first programs, made Emeril Lagasse its original host in 1993?

How to Boil Water was the young network's trademark show, aimed at viewers with little cooking skill. Lagasse moved on to his own series as his popularity grew.

The Food Network show Essence of Emeril took its title from which product created by Emeril Lagasse?

A spice blend called Emeril's Essence gave the show its name. He also urged viewers to mix their own versions to suit their personal tastes.

Which pioneering TV cook visited Emeril Lagasse for the 1993 PBS series Cooking with Master Chefs?

Julia Child visited sixteen celebrated American chefs for the series, and the young Lagasse was one of them, three years into running his own restaurant.

Emeril Green, Emeril Lagasse's series on organic and seasonal cooking, was filmed in which grocery chain?

Whole Foods stores served as the set, and the daily series aired on Planet Green, Discovery's eco-lifestyle network.

Which streaming service released Eat the World with Emeril Lagasse, his globe-trotting food series, in 2016?

Amazon's series sent Lagasse abroad to eat with chefs such as José Andrés, and it won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Culinary Program in 2017.

Which cooking competition added Emeril Lagasse to its judges' table and later filmed a season in New Orleans?

Top Chef made Emeril's flagship a featured location during its New Orleans season, and the winning dish from that episode went onto the restaurant's menu.

On a 2010 Iron Chef America special, Emeril Lagasse cooked with produce from the garden of which famous address?

The White House garden supplied the secret ingredient, and its executive chef Cristeta Comerford teamed with Bobby Flay to beat Lagasse and Mario Batali.

Which broadcast network aired Emeril, the short-lived 2001 sitcom in which Emeril Lagasse played himself?

NBC pulled the sitcom within months, though its set had a fully working kitchen where Lagasse cooked for the cast and staff.

Which chef and author wrote Emeril Lagasse's scene for the HBO drama Treme, showing a sadder side of him?

Anthony Bourdain, a writer on the series, called the scene a dream to write because it showed a burdened Lagasse that his own television shows rarely did.

Which network breakfast program made Emeril Lagasse its regular food correspondent, starting in 1998?

Good Morning America put Lagasse in front of a national audience a year after his nightly Food Network show began.

Which James Beard Foundation honor went to Emeril Lagasse in 2013, long after its regional chef award?

Humanitarian of the Year recognized the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, which he set up in 2002 to fund culinary and nutrition programs for young people.

Which cruise line made Emeril Lagasse its Chief Culinary Officer after he opened bistros aboard its ships?

Carnival already carried Emeril's Bistro 1396 on its ship Mardi Gras, and the new title gave him a hand in menus across the entire fleet.

Which relative of Emeril Lagasse took charge of the kitchen at his New Orleans flagship after training in Europe?

His son E.J. went to the same culinary school as his father and worked under Clare Smyth and Björn Frantzén before coming home to lead Emeril's.

In which city did Emeril Lagasse open Delmonico Steakhouse and a Fish House, both inside casino resorts?

Las Vegas got Delmonico Steakhouse at The Venetian, a classic steakhouse with a Creole flair, and the Fish House at the MGM Grand.

Which name did Emeril Lagasse give his second restaurant, opened in 1992 and known for its rustic cooking?

NOLA is an acronym for New Orleans, Louisiana. The restaurant ran for nearly three decades before closing in 2020.

To which Florida Panhandle city did Emeril Lagasse move his family in 2011, before hosting a series on the state?

Destin became home for Lagasse, his wife Alden and their two children. From 2013 he toured the state's kitchens for five seasons of Emeril's Florida.

Which musician led the studio band on Emeril Live throughout the Food Network run of Emeril Lagasse's show?

Doc Gibbs earned his nickname by suggesting herbal remedies to jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr., and he also toured with Whitney Houston.

Which home-makeover TV host presented On the Menu, the 2014 TNT contest with Emeril Lagasse as its Menu Master?

Ty Pennington hosted as home cooks competed to create a dish for a national restaurant chain, which put the winner on its menu the next day.

Which American cookware maker produced Emerilware, the line of pots and pans carrying Emeril Lagasse's name?

All-Clad made the cookware, while Wüsthof produced Lagasse's two lines of kitchen knives and T-Fal his electrical appliances.

Which coveted dining honors did Emeril's, Emeril Lagasse's New Orleans flagship, earn two of in November 2025?

Michelin stars arrived with the guide's first American South edition, and Emeril's was the only restaurant in it to be given two.