A long-time member of the Emeril’s family of restaurants, Brian Mottola comes to NOLA by way of Charlotte North Carolina, where he served as chef de cuisine at e2 emeril’s eatery.

Chef Mottola’s passion for cooking and great food was ignited as a child in New Jersey where Italian family meals served as the centerpiece of the day. After graduating from Johnson & Wales in 1997, Mottola began working as a line cook for renowned Chef Emeril Lagasse at his award-winning flagship restaurant Emeril’s New Orleans. In 1999, Mottola moved to Las Vegas to help open Chef Emeril’s Delmonico Steakhouse in the Venetian Casino and Resort, where he served as the butcher and saucier. He then moved to San Francisco to work under Chef Nancy Oaks at her prestigious restaurant, Boulevard.

Chef Mottola eventually moved back to New Jersey to work as a sous chef at Café Matisse, and later opened his own restaurant, Pop’s, a Cajun-Creole-Barbecue restaurant named in honor of his grandfather. In 2008 he moved to Charlotte where he worked as the sous chef at Carpe Diem under Chef Paul Ketterhagen before rejoining Emeril’s team to open e2 emeril’s eatery in January 2012, first serving as sous chef and later, chef de cuisine.

At NOLA Restaurant, Chef Mottola will showcase his creative edge and culinary finesse, putting his own touch on the New New Orleans fare the restaurant is renowned for – a fusion of traditional Creole and Southern cuisine with a twist of ethnic flavors.