The Truth About Emeril Lagasse Has Finally Been Revealed

since food network gave him the boot in 2007 emeril lagasse has been in about a dozen shows as either the star or a guest not all were successes but he wants to be remembered first and foremost as a restaurateur this is the untold truth of emeril lagasse when lagasse was just 10 years old carrero's bakery hired him for one dollar an hour to wash pans according to cnn two years later the bakers taught him how to bake bread and at carreros his passion for cooking was kindled but legacy wasn't sure if he wanted to become a chef because he also loved music just as much he was a percussion major and played drums with a local band performing several nights a week throughout the school year as his high school graduation got closer the prestigious new england conservatory of music offered legacy a full scholarship but cooking inevitably won out over music and he turned it down his mother was upset about his decision but his father encouraged him to go do what he loved saying if you think this is a way you can get a ticket out of here then you go for it lagasse enrolled in the culinary program at johnson and wales university in providence rhode island and paid his tuition by working at a local italian restaurant where he met his first wife he graduated in 1978 and set out to france to hone his skills lagasse soon found out that parisian chefs were less than welcoming to a culinary school graduate he returned to the us and found work as a sous chef in philadelphia in boston in 1982 a recruiter sent lagasse's resume to ella brennan the owner of commander's palace a legendary new orleans restaurant she rejected it because he lacked experience and was only 23 at the time the recruiter persisted and brennan agreed to interview him she told bon appetit that at the time she said okay i'll bring him in but i'm telling you right now i don't think it's going to work when they met legacy charmed brennan by telling her that the commander's palace kitchen smelled like his mother's kitchen he cooked a meal for her and her brother and they knew they had found someone special a few days later the brennans offered him the job brennan told cnn once emerald got down here we really had a chemistry the brennans tutored legacy in creole cuisine and he began to experiment with the restaurant's dishes by adding the portuguese influences he'd learned from his mother after over seven years at commander's palace lagasse wanted to open his own restaurant he found an abandoned space in new orleans warehouse district which in 1990 was run down during the building's renovation lagasse locked himself in an office for 15 hours a day writing and testing recipes in an eater interview he said today those dishes kind of seem okay but if you think back to 25 years ago those dishes were so cutting edge for new orleans emeralds opened to rave reviews and was selected by esquire as restaurant of the year the following year wine spectator gave emeralds the grand award and the james beard foundation dubbed lagasse the best chef south two years later legacy opened nola again to glowing reviews by 1993 executives at the new cable station food network had heard of lagasse and offered him a show how to boil water by legacy's account the show was terrible but food network recognized a potential superstar and gave him a new show the essence of emerald lagasse was able to loosen up and be more of himself in 1997 lagasse's skill and colorful personality were showcased on emerald live which combined legacy's two loves cooking and music during the show's 10-year run lagasse's energy never flagged he opened four restaurants and wrote 10 cookbooks in 2000 he signed a deal with b g foods to distribute emerald's original a signature line of seasonings salad dressings marinades and pepper sauces which he promoted on emerald live by 2005 lagasse valued his empire at 150 million dollars worth of business each year during the production of the essence of emerald lagasse shuttled back and forth between his restaurants to accommodate his schedule the show had to shoot eight shows a day sunday through tuesday three or four shows were shot in the morning and then the six-person crew took their lunch break devouring the rich meals that legacy had just prepared on the set when shooting resumed he noticed that everyone was practically falling asleep after that bam became a regular catchphrase he told bon appetit bam is just kind of me according to the chef people often yell bam at him when he's out in public in 2004 outside consultants reported to the new food network president brooke johnson that cooking shows like emerald live were losing ratings to the more exciting competition shows like iron chef america and top chef if food network was going to survive it would have to become less of the emerald network johnson still believed in her superstar chef and allocated hundreds of thousands of dollars to overhaul emerald live with a new set and top of the line equipment but in three years time the higher energy shows were killing emerald live ratings also the show was expensive to produce because of legacy's astronomical salary one episode of emerald live cost as much as a full 13 episode season of a new show in 2007 johnson warned lagasse that the direction of the network may be changing he knew his audiences were greying but he believed the show would bounce back network executives thought otherwise and on december 11 2007 the last emerald live was shot johnson told the new york times all good things come to an end and it was time to do something new a few weeks later she informed lagasse that food network was also ending production of the essence of emerald marketing head susie fogelson wanted to keep legacy at food network she suggested to lagasse's agent that he compete on iron chef america but his agent was against it saying we don't want to see emeril in an aggressive situation like that instead legacy wanted to invite family friendly guests like elmo from sesame street [Applause] when emerald live got pulled lagasse retreated to new orleans and worked as a line cook at his restaurant he was furious and confused about why he'd been given the boot he told gq when it ended everybody felt like it was time for a little break i didn't necessarily think that fogelson didn't want to give up on legacy so she summoned him back to new york to discuss his future with food network again she proposed that he might pivot to a competition show but legazzi wasn't having any of it and he stormed out in 2005 hurricane katrina devastated new orleans and lagasse's three restaurants emeralds delmonico and nola were severely damaged with over two million dollars in losses from flooding and looting compounded by the destruction of his home in mississippi and cancellation of emerald live legacy was paddling through some rough financial waters but in 2008 martha stewart and her company came to the rescue and bought the rights to lagasse's culinary franchise including his television shows cookbooks emerald branded spices and cookware for 45 million dollars in cash and 5 million dollars in stock stewart considered their tastes and styles vastly different but she told the new york times being complementary and different is better than being competitive in an nbc interview lagasse said she showed up at a time when i thought the whole ship might be going down after the deal was completed legacy didn't seem to regret relinquishing his cookbooks and licensed products to stuart he said my little bit just fits into a corner of her empire and i'm happy to be there somebody opened my cupboard the other day and they said you have emeril i said of course i have emerald in my cupboard you're right there front and center in 2012 lagasse martha stewart living omni media and home shopping network were hit with a lawsuit for being quote willfully and maliciously engaged in counterfeiting and selling knives supposedly made in sauling inn germany a city renowned for its steel forging since the 11th century the lawsuit claimed that the inferior knives were branded with emerald and saline's trademarks on one side of the blade and on the other side were marked china where the knives were actually made as forbes reported the lawsuit further accused lagasse stewart and hsn of having been quote unjustly enriched by illegally using the chamber's intellectual property for their own financial gain included in the complaint were several negative reviews from hsn consumers one of whom wrote that is terrible when a top chef lies to you on tv emeril cannot be trusted with what he advertises the chamber sought damages of two million dollars for each time legacy stewart and hsn infringed the sauling in trademark totaling 24 million dollars the lawsuit was settled in 2014 for an undisclosed amount and according to today a permanent injunction was put against the group that prohibited them from selling products with the solingen trademark in 2001 lagasse was at the height of his tv fame and designing women creator linda bloodworth thomason whipped up a frothy sitcom for him she explained the plan was to put legacy in the middle of these loud mouthy designing women types with great food nbc initially had high hopes for their new sitcom star but during production it reportedly became apparent that the show had problems as bloodworth thomason noted in the hollywood reporter he was expected to become an actor overnight and it just didn't work lagasse was so accustomed to ad libbing on emerald live that he couldn't keep to the script emerald premiered two weeks after 9 11 and reviews were uniformly dreadful one los angeles times critic wrote sitcom anorexia legacy schmaci dump this sucker fast the show failed to draw an audience and although 10 episodes were filmed emerald was cancelled after its seventh episode aired lagasse married his third wife former realtor alden lovelace in 2000 and two years later they founded the legacy foundation with the intent of creating opportunities for children in disadvantaged situations its mission statement is to help youth realize their full potential through culinary nutrition and arts education the foundation has funded programs for teaching children how to grow sustainable foods and culinary and hospitality training in school cafeterias in 2005 after katrina's devastation of new orleans the legacy foundation created a fundraising event the carnival duval which featured a high-end wine auction and walk-around tastings by lagasse's celebrity chef friends the inaugural event raised 1.4 million dollars the proceeds of which were donated to organizations helping new orleans area children whose families had lost their homes in the hurricane the carnivale duval has been an annual fundraiser since it began according to the official website the foundation continues to provide funds to communities affected by natural disasters and to date has raised more than 10 million dollars and helped thousands of children in need most recently the legacy foundation committed 500 000 to non-profits supporting covid19 relief efforts eventually lagasse and his family left new orleans behind and moved to florida in 2013 the cooking channel and food network jointly premiered lagasse's new television series emeralds florida which spotlighted florida's restaurants and cuisine including his own visit florida shelled out 16 million dollars 12.7 million of which was taxpayer money to promote florida tourism on the show in 2017 after the show was cancelled the florida house of representatives began an investigation into the show's finances according to politico the show's producer matt media reportedly received 1.25 million dollars and legacy got 4 million dollars matt media's owner pat roberts refused to turn over financial records claiming he could be sued and the house issued a subpoena for them as of mid-2020 the investigation into lagasse's and robert's payments is ongoing 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Channel: Mashed

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Id: dBzpAvD8nK0

Length: 12min 37sec (757 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 03 2020