Emeril Lagasse’s First Chop House Opens in Baton Rouge

Emeril Lagasse is coming to the capital. Emeril’s Chop House opened September 24 at L’Auberge Casino in Baton Rouge, the first Lagasse restaurant in the capital region, and a significant expansion of the chef’s footprint inside his home state.

The concept: a Louisiana chop house

The concept is a chop house in the classic American sense, the steakhouse format, filtered through Lagasse’s Louisiana instincts. Chef de cuisine Brendan Rufty leads the kitchen after training directly with Lagasse’s team, which matters: the Emeril organization has always been serious about putting trained operators, not figureheads, in its kitchens.

The L’Auberge setting is deliberate. Casino-resort steakhouses live or die on consistency and occasion dining, anniversary dinners, business meals, the kind of night out where the room has to deliver. Lagasse’s brand, four decades in, is built exactly for that.

The menu: dry-aged beef and Gulf seafood

This is a steakhouse that knows its audience. The beef program runs through filet mignon, ribeye, and Wagyu up to a 20-ounce dry-aged prime bone-in cowboy steak, dry-aged 28 to 30 days for what the kitchen describes as a deeper, earthier flavor. Steaks come with a choice of preparations, Emeril’s Essence seasoning or classic salt and pepper, and the team tested beef from multiple suppliers to balance quality and value.

But the menu’s personality is in the Louisiana accents. Emeril’s BBQ Shrimp, Gulf Fish Amandine, and chicken-and-andouille gumbo sit alongside caviar deviled eggs, a Chop House Wagyu burger, and a Maine lobster tail. The small plates show range: shrimp cocktail with a gin-based cocktail sauce, vermouth-glazed mushrooms, brandy peppercorn onions, and king crab with truffle potato chips, a dish Lagasse created when he opened the original Delmonico Steakhouse more than two decades ago. Bread comes from Baton Rouge’s own St. Bruno Bakery. Desserts close with Emeril’s banana cream pie and a peanut butter mousse pie.

“This is a creation that we did specifically for this hotel and casino,” Lagasse said. “It has a little bit of Emeril’s, a little bit of Meril, and here’s a little bit of the Delmonico Steakhouse. It’s fun, and that’s what I wanted to do and create. I wanted the atmosphere to be fun, not too serious. … I’m hoping that people in Baton Rouge are going to embrace it and make it their local restaurant.”

A Saturday and Sunday brunch is already in the works.

The room, rebuilt

The 175-seat restaurant replaces 18 Steak, and the renovation went beyond a rebrand: more bar seating, a new cocktail lounge, private dining space, and an outdoor deck overlooking the Mississippi River, built for the anniversary dinners and business meals that casino-resort steakhouses live on.

The team is homegrown but Lagasse-trained. Executive chef Jared Tees leads the operation; chef de cuisine Brendan Rufty runs the kitchen after months training with Lagasse’s teams in New Orleans and Las Vegas; and Erika Mizell, also extensively trained with Lagasse’s group, runs the front of house as general manager.

The concept already has local momentum: at the Baton Rouge Epicurean Society’s Fête Rouge, the restaurant placed second in the seafood category for its Louisiana yellowfin tuna dish. Dinner runs 5 to 10 p.m. daily, and reservations are recommended.

The Louisiana context

This move extends Lagasse’s Louisiana footprint beyond his four New Orleans restaurants, a portfolio anchored by the flagship Emeril’s, which earned two Michelin stars last November. We made the case for Emeril’s bid for three Michelin stars last fall. That recognition reset the conversation around the chef: not a TV personality with restaurants, but a restaurateur whose flagship holds two stars in one of America’s most competitive dining cities.

Baton Rouge has long lived in New Orleans’ culinary shadow. For the other end of the state’s canon, see our 25 must-eat restaurants in New Orleans. A Lagasse chop house doesn’t fix that on its own, but it’s a signal, the state’s biggest culinary name betting that the capital region’s dining market has matured enough to support it. The test will be whether locals adopt it as their own room or treat it as a special-occasion import.

Why it matters

Louisiana legends expanding inside Louisiana is the kind of story that resonates far beyond one opening. It says something about where the state’s dining economy is heading, and about Lagasse’s ambitions at this stage of his career. The state’s dining news keeps moving: Holywater just opened an oyster bar in the French Quarter. Two Michelin stars in New Orleans, a new flagship format in Baton Rouge: the empire isn’t coasting.

The details

• Address: L’Auberge Casino & Hotel, 777 L’Auberge Ave, Baton Rouge, LA (replacing 18 Steak)
• Opened: September 24, 2026 (Lagasse attended the opening)
• Hours: Dinner daily, 5–10 p.m.; reservations recommended (lbatonrouge.com/dining)
• Concept: Chop house, classic American steakhouse with Louisiana influence
• The beef: Filet, ribeye, Wagyu, 20-oz dry-aged prime bone-in cowboy steak (28–30 day dry age)
• Louisiana signatures: Emeril’s BBQ Shrimp, Gulf Fish Amandine, chicken-and-andouille gumbo, king crab & truffle potato chips
• Team: Exec chef Jared Tees, chef de cuisine Brendan Rufty, GM Erika Mizell
• Coming: Saturday and Sunday brunch in the works
• Context: First Lagasse restaurant in the capital region; flagship Emeril’s (New Orleans) holds two Michelin stars