Quintessential Gentlemen

Cooking Up a Family Legacy

By Lisa Marie Burwell

I couldn’t think of a more perfect pair of gentlemen to usher in this issue. Enter Emeril and E.J. Lagasse. This father-and-son duo is forging paths together and separately as they brilliantly pursue their destinies, simultaneously looking forward and backward for inspiration. They are culinary royalty. As food aficionados, entrepreneurs, visionaries, chefs, philanthropists, and businessmen, they are creating and reimagining new dining experiences while paying homage to their history. Please read all about this in VIE editor Jordan Staggs’s tribute article, “A Culinary Master and his Protégé: E.J. Lagasse Takes the Reins at Emeril’s New Orleans.”

VIE has featured more chefs and restaurants this year than ever, and we’re only halfway through. My speculation as to why you see this trend in our pages is twofold. The first reason is the boomerang effect of people returning to gathering and celebrating around the table after the pandemic and the culinary world being more than ready to welcome its patrons back. The second is that VIE debuted its second coffee-table book a few months ago, COOK by VIE: Cocktails. Cuisine. Culture. The book is being met with resounding praise, and we are so grateful. It’s fitting that the author of COOK also penned this issue’s cover article, as she knows the Lagasse story well from working with Emeril through VIE over the years and attending many events and fundraisers where he was featured. We recently had the great pleasure of dining at Emeril’s while on assignment in New Orleans with VIE brand partner Susan Lovelace, and to say we were delighted and privileged to experience this memorable dining event would be an understatement. It’s a new “elevated” level of food that tastes and looks like delicious art, all in a beautiful space that’s alive with the hum of precision.

Emeril has also been my guest on VIE Speaks: Conversations with Heart & Soul podcast, which I am thrilled to continue hosting as its fourth season just kicked off. You can check out Emeril’s episode on VIE’s YouTube channel and all podcast platforms, look out for an upcoming episode with Susan Lovelace, and watch or listen to our VIE Book Club podcast hosted by Jordan Staggs.

The ethos of COOK by VIE was to celebrate our area’s food scene and culture, which are unlike anywhere else, set in a beachside hamlet with a plethora of diverse and outstanding restaurants, chefs, and events. We’ve had book signings in our community, where most of the people featured in the book attend, and it has created an intense, organic harmony and camaraderie that we are so pleased to see. We thank everyone involved for sharing their stories in COOK and embracing this tome as their own.

We have been called trend forecasters for many years, and that is a gift publishers need to possess as we want to present stories, ideas, and things people are interested in now—in the present day. Since we have had a successful track record for being current, all we have to say is that food is “in” in a big way this year.

We’ve also had more men grace the covers of VIE this year than ever before, and we’re showing love and admiration to gentlemen from all walks of life. We hope you enjoy a new attitude and new skip in our step with this issue. To all our favorite men out there and in VIE, we love and adore you.

To Life!

—Lisa Marie Burwell

CEO/Editor-in-Chief/Creative Director

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