An essential member of the Emeril's family of restaurants since 1997 and NOLA Restaurant's recently-appointed chef de cuisine, Chef Brian Mottola has just introduced a lineup of new dishes for lunch and dinner at the French Quarter hotspot. This critically acclaimed, hip, casual eatery is giving diners a whole new reason to visit one of chef/restauranteur Emeril Lagasse's hottest New Orleans restaurants.

"My approach was to apply modern touches to rustic, traditional classics," says Chef Mottola of the new additions. "Whether it's taking inspirations from traditional dishes, like turning the corn and potatoes from a crawfish boil into a corn purée and potato galette or drenching mussels in Boddington Pale Ale, these are new dishes that embrace classic New Orleans cuisine." In all of Mottola's dishes there is also a focus on seasonality from Louisiana tomatoes and watermelon to Alabama peaches. "Local when possible, in season always," he adds.

New to the dinner menu: soups and salads include tomato and watermelon salad with heirloom tomatoes, Louisiana watermelon, toasted macadamia nuts, feta cheese and lime vinaigrette; grilled peach and corn salad with bibb lettuce, covey rise corn, grilled peaches, ricotta cheese and dill-citrus vinaigrette; arugula salad with black berries, burrata cheese and aged balsamic vinegar. Entrées include grilled pork chops with brown sugar glazed sweet potatoes, toasted pecans and a caramelized onion reduction sauce; grilled Creekstone Farms rib eye with pommes dauphine, pea tendrils, heirloom baby carrots and smoked pepper romesco sauce; grilled Creekstone New York strip steak with crispy Yukon gold potatoes, shiitake mushrooms, baby spinach and Emeril's Worcestershire sauce; buttermilk fried chicken with pepper jack orecchiette mac and cheese, skillet greens, rosemary gravy and pepper jelly; and the aforementioned pan roasted trout with corn purée, house-made tasso, boiled garlic, crispy artichoke, fingerling potatoes and oyster mushrooms.

For lunch, new options abound. Appetizers include local crabmeat imperial with grilled flatbread and Prince Edward Island mussels with Boddington's pale ale, caramelized onions, smoked sausage, pommes frites and créole mustard aioli. Lunchtime entrées include crawfish and house-made chorizo pasta with angel hair pasta, cherry tomatoes, mint and shiitake mushrooms; muffaletta porchetta with roasted garlic & basil porchetta, cerignola olive salad, salami, capicola, provolone and house-made salt and vinegar chips; buckwheat soba noodle salad with citrus poached shrimp, radishes, daikon sprouts, crispy shallots and black-tea & lemongrass vinaigrette; and chicken and waffle sandwich - rosemary waffle, chicken thigh, apple raisin-celery slaw with bacon and chipotle mac and cheese.

NOLA Restaurant is located at 534 St. Louis Street in the French Quarter. Lunch is served Thursday - Monday, 11:30 AM - 2 PM. Dinner served nightly, 6 PM - 10 PM. For reservations, please call (504) 522-6652 or visit http://www.emerilsrestaurants.com/nola-restaurant.

Media Contacts:
Brustman Carrino Public Relations
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