Emeril Lagasse is taking it up a notch… up North.
The television chef who punctuates his cooking with "Bam!" next month will open Emeril's Chop House, his first restaurant in the Northeast.
The Bethlehem, Pa., restaurant — part of the new Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem — will be Lagasse's 11th.
The restaurant's menu will draw from the dishes served at his other properties, including the dry-aged beef at his steakhouses in New Orleans and Las Vegas, as well as signature dishes such as barbecue shrimp and crabcakes.
The restaurant — which is built on the site of a former steel mill — also features a bar that allows diners to eat overlooking the open kitchen. And much of the produce used will be purchased from local growers.
"We just don't want to be an in-and-out kind of restaurant," Lagasse said in a telephone interview. "We're actually looking to build quite a relationship with the local community."