Emeril Lagasse from the Food Network announces a promotional campaign. (Photo: Chris Hondros / Getty Images)

Emeril Lagasse is one of the best known celebrity chefs in the world today. With eight restaurants (the eighth one is due to open in 2003), six published cookbooks and and a successful cooking show, Lagasse realized that a chef can add seasoning to other things besides food.

Lagasse received his first cooking experience, not at a restaurant, but in a Portuguese bakery where he mastered the art of baking bread and pastries. Realizing that he had the power of titillating the taste buds, Lagasse turned down a music scholarship and obtained his Doctorate degree through the culinary program at Johnson and Wales University.

After graduating, Lagasse studied in France and Lyon before he returned to the United States where he continued to polish his skills in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and New Orleans. It was in New Orleans, that Lagasse established his star at their legendary restaurant, Commanders Palace, where he was executive chef for 7 1/2 years. In 1990, Lagasse decided to venture into business by opening his first restaurant in downtown, New Orleans. This opening would spawn two more restaurants in New Orleans, two in Las Vegas and two in Orlando.

Lagasse earned the title of "Best Southeast Chef" and was pinned as one of America's top twenty-five new chefs. So it was no surprise that when The Food Network was looking to develop a new cooking show that they would turn to Lagasse. By 1994, Lagasse began taping "The Essence Of Emeril" on The Food Network. "The Essence of Emeril" almost instantly became one of the network's highest rated shows. With the success of "The Essence of Emeril," Lagasse began production for another informational show titled "Emeril Live" (1997), which won Lagasse and the network a Cable Ace award.

Having two successful television shows, Lagasse's world was heating up and he, literally, had everyone wanting to taste what he had to offer. In 1998, ABC decided they also wanted a piece-of-the-pie when they offered Lagasse the position as Food Correspondent for "Good Morning America." As Food Correspondent, Lagasse brought Cajun and Creole cuisine from the Bayou to the big time.

In 2001, NBC announced that Emeril Lagasse would star in a new comedy entitled "Emeril." In "Emeril" Lagasse starred as himself in the role of a likable and popular chef who struggles to meet the demands of his cable TV cooking series. Unfortunately, "Emeril" did not do as well as his other television ventures, and thus it was cancelled shortly after it premiered. But the failure of the NBC sitcom did not sour Lagasse's cable-television career nor did it spoil his name as a top chef. He is still proving that he is the best in the kitchen and he still has America wondering what he will brew up next.