Plot Synopsis

Chef Emeril Lagasse travels across America to visit food establishments that served as the birthplaces of famous dishes or the hangouts of celebrities and historical figures. In each 30-minute episode, Emeril discovers three historic eateries in a single city, including: San Francisco (Buena Vista Cafe, the eatery that introduced Irish Coffee to America; Swan Oyster Depot; Tadich Grill, the longest-running restaurant in California); Boston (Union Oyster House, the oldest, continually-running restaurant in America; Doyle's Cafe, the first bar in the world to serve Sam Adams beer; Parker's Restaurant, where Emeril began his career as a sous chef in 1979); Los Angeles (Apple Pan, a roadside shack whose stools and counter were the supposed inspiration for the Johnny Rockets hamburger chain; Tam O' Shanter, one of Walt Disney's favorite restaurants; Phillippe's, where the French dip sandwich was born over a hundred years ago); Dallas (Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse, the rib joint that perfected hickory-smoked Texas barbecue; The Mecca; El Fenix, whose original owners introduced Tex-Mex cuisine almost a hundred years ago); Atlanta (Mary Mac's Tea Room; Busy Bee Cafe, one of Dr. Martin Luther King's favorite restaurants; Horseradish Grill, Atlanta's longest-running restaurant); New York City (Il Vagabondo; King Yum in Flushing's Chinatown; Keens Steakhouse); Chicago (The Berghoff, Chi-town's oldest restaurant; Twin Anchors, where Sinatra squeezed into a booth with his Rat Pack cronies; Gene and Georgetti's, Chicago's longest running steakhouse); and Miami (Joe's Stone Crab; Casa Larios; Tobacco Road, the bar that received the very first liquor license in the city).