Emeril's New New Orleans

March 15, 1993
Lagasse opened Emeril's Restaurant to raves in 1990 after several years as chef at The Commander's Palace, a New Orleans institution. His food, which he refers to as New New Orleans, or NNO, is a reinterpretation of Creole cookery, strongly influenced by Oriental, Portuguese, and Southwestern cuisines. The result is gutsy, flavorful dishes, though the juxtaposition of ingredients is sometimes startling: Crawfish Egg Rolls with Sesame Drizzle, or Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad with Andouille Dressing. There are lots of appetizing recipes here. For most collections.

Copyright 1993 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 1993
One of the instant clues to nouvelle-inspired cookbooks is the length of recipe names--two lines, at least, including a lot of "withs" and "ands." Award-winning restaurateur Lagasse's first culinary offering is certainly no exception, as he blends with skill the cuisines of Portugal, the Far East, New Mexico, and Cajun-Creole areas of the U.S. There's a great reliance on hotstuffs, with liberal sprinklings of cilantro and piri piri sauce, as there is on the foundations of "Nawlins" chefery, using such ingredients as crawfish, andouille, and tasso, among others. Some of the "I gotta try" dishes include cilantro shrimp, kale and andouille soup, smoked salmon cheesecake, pine-nut crusted chicken, pork and eggplant cutlets, and white chocolate banana sesame loaf. His claim to a "new" Big Easy cooking style may not be ageless, but his innovations will be influential. For the more experienced home chef and for the library with big demand for cookbooks. ((Reviewed Apr. 15, 1993))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1993, American Library Association.)