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Sure, Emeril Lagasse is best known for his ties to New Orleans. But the chef, who was born in Massachusetts to a Canadian father and Portuguese mother, clearly loves Florida.
His Cooking Channel show Emeril’s Florida has documented the celebrity chef’s travels throughout the Sunshine State in search of the best culinary masterpieces and most authentic down-home spots.
This Sunday, Emeril heads to Miami, where he visits Vizcaya and the Miami Seaquarium before spending some time with three of our city’s finest chefs.
First Emeril pays a call to 1500 Degrees’ Paula DaSilva, where they whip
up a clam dish. Then the king of “Bam!” heads to Coral Gables to try
some of Cindy Hutson’s crisp breadfish tacos at Ortanique on the Mile.
Emeril finishes his Miami trip at Area 31, where he dines on chef
Michael Reidt’s Mediterranean-inspired seafood.
We asked Chef
Reidt what it was like filming with Emeril. He told Short Order
that the chef is “as down-to-earth as it gets.”
Maybe it was the common
bond (both toques are Massachusetts natives), but Reidt was impressed
with the fact that after all the fame, Lagasse hasn’t forgotten his
roots or his passion.
“What was most exciting was that he’s a chef. Therefore he thinks, moves, and operates just like me. He just let the ideas
of the shoot flow instead of trying to stage things. When he saw what I
had laid out to cook, he asked which one we were going to shoot. I
replied, ‘All of them.’ He gave that grin we all love and said, ‘OK,
let’s do it.'”
So let’s do it! Emeril’s Florida‘s Miami episode airs Sunday, March 31, at 10:30 a.m. on the Cooking Channel. Bam!
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