Inside Emeril Lagasse's New NOLA Restaurant

When Emeril Lagassé was explaining his vision for his newest project, 34 Restaurant & Bar, to designer Laurie Pearson, “The first thing he said was, ‘I have this rooster I want to use,’” says Laurie. “And I thought , ‘Oh, no, how will I work around that? How can I marry the Portuguese with the Emeril brands and elegance of the Emeril restaurants?’”

Emeril grew up in the Portuguese enclave of Fall River, Massachusetts, and went on to make his name in New Orleans (and, of course, on television). Laurie, principal and creative director of L. Pearson Design, is based in Houston, but she grew up on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast—with Emeril’s wife, Alden, who tapped her for the project.

A painting of the rooster, a Portuguese cultural icon that’s come to symbolize good luck, now hangs at the entrance to 34. We talked with Laurie about the restaurant’s other Portuguese elements, Emeril’s favorite color, and her tile selections throughout the space.

“The first place I went after I met with Emeril and Alden and found out about that rooster was the Ann Sacks showroom in Houston,” says Laurie. Once there, she zeroed in on the handmade, hand-glazed, and hand-cut Idris by Ait Manos Guercif Mosaic, which is reminiscent of the glazed colored tile traditionally seen in Portuguese buildings. “That was my inspiration, really, for the whole project,” says Laurie.

Green, Emeril’s signature color, appears in various shades throughout the 245-seat restaurant. Laurie chose the glazed terracotta Idris by Ait Manos in Forest Green for the deep serpentine booths in part because it picked up the green in the Guercif. “I love, love, love that green, and it just worked beautifully in here,” says Laurie.

The restaurant’s other design features include dark woods, moody charcoals, and lighting that hits just the right note. “I felt like the black lighting with the gold inset gave the space a little bit of a chic New York look but didn’t go so far as to make it look fussy or go away from the Portuguese theme,” says Laurie.

The Idris by Ait Manos tile in Forest Green also appears on the back wall of the open kitchen. “Most of the time I’ve run tile in that shape horizontally, but in this case, it just didn’t give it the same flair that vertical tile did,” says Laurie. “It just kind of raises your eye up. You know how when you get an idea in your head, and it actually works? This tile was kind of like that—an aha moment.”

The restaurant also features a jamon bar, a DJ booth, and a bar wrapped in MADE Chinois by Robert Kuo Lantern tile. “I loved giving some dimension to that bar instead of having something painted or flat. The fact that the tile is raised gives it an upscale look and increases the scale and the level of design for that bar,” says Laurie. “And the color was actually custom-matched to a Benjamin Moore paint color I picked called Lafayette Green, which is the perfect name for a Louisiana project.”

Laurie surrounded the bar with the Liaison by Kelly Wearstler Mulholland mosaic in Green Blend on the floor. “Wood gets beat up pretty easily, so we really wanted something durable,” she says. “And I felt like this fabulous mosaic marble floor tile would lend itself to aging over the years and give us a cool, old-school vibe.”