E.J. Lagasse is the chef and co-owner of Emeril’s, the New Orleans restaurant founded by his father, Emeril Lagasse, in 1990. In 2025, at age 22, he became the youngest chef to lead a restaurant awarded two Michelin stars. He also received the Michelin Guide American South Young Chef Award.
Lagasse grew up around professional kitchens and began working in his father’s restaurants as a teenager. Intent on developing an identity beyond his family name, he pursued training outside New Orleans. His early experience included time at Café Boulud and Le Bernardin in New York, where he worked under Éric Ripert. He later graduated from Johnson & Wales University, his father’s alma mater.
After culinary school, Lagasse moved to London to work at Core by Clare Smyth. Conversations with Smyth about Europe’s most influential restaurants eventually led him to Frantzén in Stockholm. Across those kitchens, he studied cooking techniques as well as organization, kitchen culture, and the systems required to sustain restaurants at the highest level.
Lagasse returned to New Orleans in 2022 as chef and co-owner of Emeril’s. He initially focused on learning the brigade and daily operations before working with his father on the restaurant’s next phase. In 2023, the two oversaw an extensive renovation that reduced the dining room, opened the kitchen to guests, and introduced a tasting-menu format.
His cooking draws on Louisiana farmers, fishermen, and producers while revisiting dishes associated with Emeril’s history. Oyster stew, smoked salmon cheesecake, and skillet cornbread remain connected to their original versions while incorporating techniques Lagasse developed abroad.
Under his leadership, Emeril’s received AAA’s Five Diamond designation and joined Relais & Châteaux and Les Grandes Tables du Monde. Lagasse was also named La Liste’s New Talent of the Year. His longer-term ambitions center on sustaining Emeril’s and preparing young cooks to lead restaurants of their own.
