Emeril's restaurants in New Orleans: their rich history and future

After Hurricane Katrina hit, I wrote a column expressing concern about New Orleans' culinary history. So, when the cookbook "Emeril's Delmonico" arrived on my desk about a month ago, it was a treat to read about the history and recipes of this century-old restaurant. More than a cookbook, "Emeril's Delmonico" captures some of the lore behind Creole cuisine and the legendary restaurants that fostered it.

I had also wondered how Emeril Lagasse's three restaurants had fared during the flooding. The Food Network TV host owns three New Orleans restaurants — Emeril's in the Warehouse District, NOLA Restaurant in the French Quarter and Emeril's Delmonico in the Garden District. According to HarperCollins publicist Carrie Bachman and company press releases, the restaurants were spared major flooding. Emeril's Restaurant is scheduled to reopen tomorrow, and NOLA will open Dec. 13. Emeril's Delmonico was more heavily damaged, and its reopening will likely be in January or February.

"Each sustained some damage, and they are in the process of having a major cleanup done from top to bottom," Bachman told me about a month ago. "When they reopen, it may be more of a limited menu because many of the food proprietors were local. Many of his employees were relocated to his other restaurants in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Miami and Orlando. Emeril is very committed to having people come back to New Orleans."

This marks yet another chapter in the colorful history of the Delmonico, which opened in 1895. Anthony Commander had received permission from the famed New York Delmonico to open an independent branch in the Crescent City. The New York restaurant is credited with some of the classics of American cuisine — lobster Newburg, chicken a la king, eggs Benedict and baked Alaska — before closing in 1923. (According to Lagasse, the current Delmonico's Restaurant in New York has no connection with the original restaurant.)