Culinary Network executive Trish O'Connell gives Emeril exciting news: his show's high ratings have prompted the network to order 20 additional episodes. The catch? They want him to present a hipper image, complete with a new set and designer-label chef's jacket. Emeril's agent and friend Jerry McKenney and his staff— producer Cassandra ""Cass"" Gilman, stage manager Melva LeBlanc, and food stylist B.D. Benson—are all thrilled. However, Emeril quickly finds himself torn between the additional demands of his success and the fact that his wife Nora and three children James , Halo, and Charlie already consider him an absentee husband and father.

When Emeril needs top quality beef for the upcoming meat lovers' show and the normal supplier comes up empty, Cass enlists some family help. Unfortunately, after a trip to a dark New Jersey pier for a beef drop with Melva and B.D., she realizes that her cousin, the entrepreneur, is involved with a different type of ""family."" Things get worse when crime boss/Tony Soprano wannabe Vic Leopolis tells Cass that in return for the favor, he wants Emeril, his favorite chef, to ""kick it up a notch"" and host Sunday dinner for the mob. Even guest star Vincent Pastore, visiting Emeril's cooking show to shoot a segment, is unable to provide Emeril with a solution to his Italian problem.