Entering the dining room at Emeril’s Restaurant , you pass smoothly curving walls and booths the color of quicksilver as you move toward the moon glow of the illuminated frame around the glassed-in kitchen.

It feels like stepping into a theater with the show about to begin. Other tables may be seated, but it seems like this show has been synchronized just for you. It’s quite a performance.

This is the new Emeril’s, different in many ways from the one New Orleans has long known , which was always upscale yet also a bit freewheeling. But this Emeril’s is also drawing directly from the ideas that first fired it up, now translated for a new era.

The restaurant Emeril Lagasse opened in 1990 as a 30-year-old rising star is now run by his son E.J. Lagasse, 22, as chef and co-owner.

“It’s

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