Emeril Lagasse was one of the first celebrity chefs to open a restaurant in Las Vegas with the debut of Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House at the MGM Grand in 1995. Eighteen years later and he also boasts Delmonico Steakhouse at The Venetian, Table 10 at The Shoppes at The Palazzo and Lagasse’s Stadium at The Palazzo. In town to co-host a tiki party with Sammy Hagar, the celebrity chef shared with Susan Stapleton his feelings about winning a James Beard Foundation Award, what he has left to conquer and his friendship with Hagar.
Q: Your food went into space in 2006 when you contributed recipes to the International Space Station. What else is there to conquer?
A: You know, my friend, you can’t rest on your laurels. You have to keep pushing and pushing and pushing the envelope. That’s what I tell my guys. Every day I get up and I try to be a little bit better than the day before. If you can keep pushing the envelope in a good way—not nonsense cuisine—staying true and staying real, that’s what we’re doing.
Q: You just won the James Beard Foundation Humanitarian Award for your work with the Emeril Lagasse Foundation.
A: It took me 30 years to do that. Can you imagine?
Q: Is it different to be honored for that instead of cooking?
A: I want to say in a sense that the majority of that recognition was more for work with my foundation, which is 10 years old. It actually started 10 years ago here in Las Vegas. It’s nice to be recognized by peers and recognized for what we’re doing. It’s taken them maybe this long to really realize what I’m doing. It’s all about kids. When you really think about it, we’ve built four culinary performing centers. We provided, last year alone, over 400,000 meals, summer meals for kids who would not even have a meal to eat, most of them, because school is out.
Q: How did you become friends with Sammy Hagar?
A: Sammy and I became friends—I can’t even tell you how many years ago it was. He came to eat at Emeril’s. He was on tour … I want to say with Van Halen. He came to Emeril’s and sat at the bar with his lovely wife Kari. I think they were married at the time. I was cooking behind the food bar. I cooked for him. He invited me to the show. Next thing I know, he and I have the same agent, Shep Gordon. The next thing I know, I’ve got Sammy, I’ve got Sharon Stone, I’ve got Michael Douglas in the kitchen with me. Sammy and I have always been true to one another. Now we’ve become brothers.
