E.J. Lagasse named a Beard finalist

E.J. Lagasse is now a finalist for Best Emerging Chef at the 2026 James Beard Awards. (jamesbeard.org) The James Beard Foundation published its 2026 Restaurant and Chef Award finalists on March 31 and listed Lagasse of Emeril’s in New Orleans alongside four other chefs in the category. Winners are scheduled to be announced on June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. (jamesbeard.org) Lagasse is the chef and co-owner of Emeril’s, the flagship New Orleans restaurant founded by his father, Emeril Lagasse, in 1990. The restaurant says E.J. returned to New Orleans in 2022 to lead day-to-day operations, and the dining room reopened after a renovation in 2023. (emeril.org, emerilsrestaurant.com) The nomination lands after a fast run of national recognition for both chef and restaurant. In November 2025, the Michelin Guide said Lagasse, then 22, became the youngest chef to lead a two-Michelin-star kitchen, and Emeril’s also won the guide’s American South Young Chef Award for him. (guide.michelin.com) His path into that role was unusually direct. Emeril’s biography says he started working in the kitchen at 13, trained at Café Boulud and Le Bernardin, studied at Johnson and Wales, and later worked at Core by Clare Smyth in London and Frantzén in Stockholm before coming back to New Orleans. (emeril.org) Local reporting in Massachusetts has also pushed his family background into the story. The Herald News reported on April 13 that Lagasse is Portuguese American and that his father, Emeril Lagasse, was born in Fall River, tying the Beard recognition to a South Coast family history that has surfaced before in coverage of the Lagasses’ food projects. (heraldnews.com, usatoday.com) That regional link has been part of the public conversation around the family’s cooking beyond New Orleans. In 2024, The Herald News reported that Emeril Lagasse was developing a Portuguese restaurant shaped by flavors from Fall River and the South Coast after research visits to local businesses. (usatoday.com, wpri.com) For now, the Beard finalist line adds another national credential to a chef already carrying a family name and a flagship restaurant. The next marker is June 15, when the James Beard Foundation names its 2026 winners in Chicago. (jamesbeard.org)