[G&G] By the time E.J. Lagasse was born, his father, Emeril Lagasse, had been a celebrity chef for more than a decade. But little E.J., quite logically, assumed dad’s fame sprang from providing the voice for a cartoon alligator in the 2009 Disney movie The Princess and the Frog. "That’s why I thought he was always getting his picture taken," he says.
Now the lens has widened to include the younger Lagasse as he takes the culinary reins at Emeril’s, the first restaurant opened by his father in New Orleans in 1990. He’s fully aware that nineteen years old is awfully young to be filling such a big toque. “It’s a long-standing family business, so there are high expectations,” he acknowledges. “But growing up with my dad, I’ve got a ten-year advantage on knowing how a restaurant works.” |