Emeril gives up on NOLA

[TAPrice]

When the Picayune made blistering attacks on Emeril, I wondered if it was out line. Given this recent comment, I'm beginning to think he deserved all the scorn he got:

EMERIL LAGASSE on what's happening in his hometown New Orleans: "Nothing. The mayor's a clunk. The governor is also a clunk. They don't know their (nether sections) from a hole in the ground. All my three restaurants got hit. I've reopened Emeril's, but only a few locals come. There's no tourists. No visitors. No spenders. No money. No future. No people. It's lost. It'll never come back."

Quote from the New York Post.

Emeril's "homebase" released this comment in response:

"The article is not an accurate representation of the way I feel about New Orleans. I completely support the city, which is the reason I have based both my family and my business operations here for over 20 years. I did, however, express my concerns about the leadership in our city and the state. I have absolutely not lost hope in our city, I just sometimes lose patience, as I feel that things should be moving forward much faster than they are at this time. I did not say that the city or the people will never come back. I am committed to this city, and I have no doubt that New Orleans will be back, and that it will be better than ever. I am also extremely grateful to all of our local customers -- it is because of them that we are able to operate in this unbelievably difficult time. I believe that we are all in this together, and we need to work together to encourage each other, not discourage the positive growth in our city. I will continue to support this great city in the rebuilding effort in any way I can."

Columnist Chris Rose is not buying the excuse: "An Idea: Stay in the Kitchen"

[Jason Perlow]

So much for the city's favorite son.

[moosnsqrl]

The old adage about there being 'no such thing as bad publicity' has really been tested post-Katrina, hasn't it?

[tan319]

Since this "skirts" on the political, I don't know how long it will stay up but...

Whatever is going on in NO is hardly great.

A screwjob like none other.

Emeril, "back in the day", was known to have quite a temper, get a bit irrittated.

Guess what I'm trying to say is the guy deserves a break, besides the fact that he may be still "working" thru the disaster.

[annecros]

Disaster brings out the best and the worst in people. Sometimes at the same time.

I think there is a grain of truth there when Emeril vented his spleen. Fortunately for NOLA, the problems with the administration of the city can, and I am sure will, be fixed soon.

[PopsicleToze]

Emeril is not from New Orleans, but from Boston, or somewhere in Mass. He was very fortunate to be the Brennan's hire, and he did a great job. Since that time he has made a very successful career stemming from New Orleans the New Orleans food culture. Good for him. I wish him every success, and I'm sure his success will continue and he will continue to add to his restaurant empire.

However, Chris Rose's comments about his restaurants in New Orleans being empty have merit.

Emeril has recently reopened two, Emeril's and Nola. One other, Delmonico, he has not. At Thanksgiving, it seemed as though just about everyone from Canal Street to the Jefferson Parish line had managed to reopen their restaurants, but the guy with the deepest pockets and most resources and the highest profile couldn't.

Or wouldn't.

And why are all those other restaurants, almost without exception, packed every night?

One reason is because their owners didn't piss off the whole town by taking a pass on the crisis and laying off everyone and ghosting when times got tough around here.

We're standing by those who stood by us, and the rest can just sit outside like an old refrigerator. But perhaps I should look on the bright side. It's comforting to know there's at least one restaurant in town where I can get a meal without waiting 90 minutes for a table.

New Orleans has a deep heart AND a deep memory. Everyone has had said something they wish they wouldn't have, but his absence said more than his words ever did. IMHO, there are far too many great restaurants in this city – always have been, and always will be – for New Orleans to support in its greatest time of need than to support a “favorite son” who never was.

Rhonda

[edited for typo]

Edited February 3, 2006 by PopsicleToze (log)

[pterostyrax]

Fortunately for NOLA, the problems with the administration of the city can, and I am sure will, be fixed soon.

←

:wacko:

:biggrin:

One of the best laughs I have had in a long, long, long time.

FYI, eight of us will be spending February 17-19 at the Windsor Court and spending money at the New Orleans Grill, Drago's, GW Fins, Stanley, etc. in support of New Orleans.

[Mayhaw Man]

Whatever.

Emeril,

You are such a non issue right now that you are almost not even relevant. You had a stage that could have been used for so much good, probably a more visible stage than anyone outside of government, and you chose to do something other than come back to town and stand around talking to the press in a positive way about how interesting this place is and how much help that we were going to need to get it going again. Of course, this is just my opinion, and yours may be different, but I believe that I am in the majority here.

Sure it's screwed up. Hell, we had tornados yesterday that made it even worse. We don't get mail, we can't make groceries conveniently, doing something as simple as changing a cell phone plan can take days, and our politicians are, truly, either too inept or too oveerwhelmed to lead in any meaningful way. You are right that the place is a mess, but on the other hand, you could have helped. Instead you chose to lay off staff and go on a fundraising/book tour until things got sorted out. Thanks, man. I'm glad that you made it through ok.

But this statement was the one that cut us all to the quick, I think:

I've reopened Emeril's, but only a few locals come.

Well, duh, dude. Who the hell do you think is hanging around here in the first place? Why don't you go enjoy dinner at Clancy's, or Upperline, Galatoire's, Antoine's, or August, or Bayona? Look at all of those locals! Their credit cards work. They are, in many ways, the most sophisticated diners that you are ever going to get. They eat out more often, more regularly, than almost any diners in the country. Sure, we have our favorites and you aren't one of them but it's not because your places aren't good-they are (I am a huge fan of NOLA and have always enjoyed Emeril's), but it's exactly because you have catered to the out of town crowds of conventioneers. We like to eat, but we don't like to make reservations months in advance and we like to have a long meal, not one where you are clearly just another person in a seat that needs to be turned. Locals, huh? The oldest rest. in the US is here and who do you think has kept it open all of these years? Conventioneers? Nope. Just nice folks like us who like some tradition and some good food in a place where we can sit back and enjoy the ride-for hours. You aren't set up for that.

And another thing. You came here from New England to go to work for a woman who is, probably, one of the top five operators in the US. Ella Brennan knows more about hospitality and restaurant operations than you will ever know. Sure you run great places, and you can cook your ass off, but what about a little love for the place that made your career. The Brennan's gave you a stage and helped turn you into a very rich man. Didn't you learn anything from her about how to behave politely? While she is down there struggling to put together a building that is in really bad shape (and will take months to repair), have you heard her, or any of her extended family, whining about how inept everyone is. Hell no. They just got back here, got out the checkbooks, and went to work. You should have taken a page from that playbook instead of the ones provided to you by your CPA and your media folks.

You have restaurants in Vegas, Atlanta, Wally World, etc, but have you ever themed an Atlanta restaurant or a Vegas cookbook? I'm pretty sure that you haven't. This place, this city, is what your whole career is based on and likely what it will continue to be based on. Have you learned so little about us that you don't know that you can't say stuff like that without getting jacked up in the paper and around every table at Galitoire's today at lunch? I really thought that you were a brighter bulb than that-but, then again, I thought alot of things until last August 29.

I hope that the conventions come back soon, because those locals you were whining about? They won't be beating down the door tonight. This might be a good time to get some of that silverware polished up. The staff should have plenty of time to handle it.

Send us a postcard from Vegas. It might get delivered in a couple of months. We're still having a little trouble with the mail, just in case no one told you.

Thanks,

Brooks

[mikeycook]

Emeril is not from New Orleans, but from Boston, or somewhere in Mass.[edited for typo]

←

I am pretty sure it's Fall River, Mass (if not, then New Bedford). Good heritage of portuguese cooking in the area, which are Emeril's true cooking roots.

Actually, I am glad, in some ways, that he said what he said. My wife and I have been considering visiting New Orleans in the next couple of months because we love it and we want to help the city get back on its feet. Reading his comments on Page Six yesterday, I was very upset with myself for not planning this trip earlier. His comments reminded me how badly tourism is needed (that being said, I will probably go to restaurants other than his).

I think every eGulleteer who can should take a trip to New Oreleans this year and do what they can to help support this wonderful and original city.

Edited February 3, 2006 by mikeycook (log)

[TAPrice]

Nicely said Brooks. If Emeril had behaved differently, I'm sure he could have packed his places with locals. How many locals ate at K-Paul's before the storm? Take a survey tonight, and I bet you'd find a lot of local faces. People appreciate what Paul Prudhomme did and they want to support him.

[dan.]

Like we needed another reason to ignore the jerk.

[Mayhaw Man]

Take a survey tonight, and I bet you'd find a lot of local faces.

←

That's exactly what I've been saying.

You can't have better diners than locals in New Orleans. We might be a mess, but we try to support those that did their best in a really bad situation (hell, we're conditioned to it-after all, we have been Saints fans for a long time. This proves that you don't have to be good to be loved, just showing up and trying is pretty much all that we look for here)

Edited to say that, as far as the Saints are concerned, we'll support them even though they seem to be guilty of not trying on occasion. We are nothing if not loyal, down here.

[joiei]

I think every eGulleteer who can should take a trip to New Oreleans this year and do what they can to help support this wonderful and original city.

←

I have already been and am soapboxing this sentiment to anyone who will listen. AS for dining at Emerils, hey there are soooooo many local places owned by local chefs who live and work locally in New Orleans. I would not miss any of his places, they now smack of upscale chain dining along the lines of Capitol Grille and Mortons Steak House. Let him make his money at Disneyworld. He seems to do better with cattle car tourist runs as opposed to creating a local market anyway. And PopsicleToze, you are right about him not being a favorite son. Maybe at the food network.

[srhcb]

Besides being a chef and tv personality, Emeril is a very successful businessman . He has feduciary responsibility to his financial backers and associates that can complicate matters under unusual circumstances.

Unfortunately, in business as in personal dealings, some issues can never be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.

I don't know what size shoes Emeril wears, but I've walked nary a step, let alone a mile in them.

[Mayhaw Man]

  He has feduciary responsibility to his financial backers and associates that can complicate matters under unusual circumstances. 

←

Exactly, and it would seem to me that, at the very least, taking care to put forth a public image that might ingratiate himself with the public in New Orleans would have been the most responsible thing that he could have done. He just shot himself in the foot in a very big way with most of the dining public here that is able to pay that kind of money for food. There are other places, many, that compare favorable or that are clearly better than any of his three restaurants in New Orleans. The public will vote, and I am pretty sure that he will lose. His investors aren't going to be happy with the cashflow situation anyway, but now it's going to be dismal. Some things are just waaaay bigger than the decisions to be made on the bottom line. This, if there ever was one, is one of those situations.

We don't have much left, but most of us who are here are choosing to deal with those that made the effort, and that's in all fields, food, banking, politics, whatever. We're in bad shape, but we are loyal.

[ludja]

Besides being a chef and tv personality, Emeril is a very successful businessman .  He has feduciary responsibility to his financial backers and associates that can complicate matters under unusual circumstances. 

Unfortunately, in business as in personal dealings, some issues can never be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. 

I don't know what size shoes Emeril wears, but I've walked nary a step, let alone a mile in them.

←

Some very good points. I would still have to say though, that some of his public actions and statements as reported here and at other places seem to bely a man whose "hands are tied". I mean, that his hands may very well be tied with respect to closing the restaurant(s), but his public communications and actions seem sorely lacking in sensitivity, compassion or gratefulness to New Orleans.

Admittedly this shabby impression has been formed far away from New Orleans and, of course, without even knowing Emeril Lagasse in person.