Emeril Lagasse will be opening a new French-style restaurant at Harrah's Casino.
That restaurant, Emeril's Brasserie, is scheduled to open at the end of this year. One local food expert says this is good news for the Central Business District.
"It's just going to activate and animate that part of Canal Street, which, frankly, I think it badly needs," said NOLA.com food columnist Ian McNulty.
According to McNulty, Emeril's Brasserie will have an entrance outside of the casino. That, he says, will allow families and diners under the age of 21 to eat there.
The restaurant is just one of many changes Caesar's is making at the foot of Canal Street as it continues its transformation of the Harrah's property.
"I think it's part of a bigger vision," McNulty said. "To do it in this manner that makes it an accessible restaurant to anybody (and) not just an amenity to the casino is, I think, planting a flag on Canal Street that this is a destination not just for gaming, but for entertainment and for people to come down."
McNulty says this is the latest development in the city's ongoing rebound from the COVID pandemic.
"The thing about the hospitality industry, especially in New Orleans, is that there's always another page to turn," McNulty said. "There are always people who will be doubling down as experienced operators, as you're seeing with Emeril, and there are new people who are rising and asserting themselves.
McNulty says it will be much more casual than a fancy French restaurant and more casual than Emeril's namesake restaurant on Tchoupitoulas Street. While the menu and the kitchen staff have yet to be named, McNulty says he expects that Emeril himself will be working at the restaurant when it opens.
"When he opens up a new place or transforms a restaurant, you're going to see the celebrity chef himself expediting in the kitchen," McNulty said. "That's just how he rolls these days."
