Watch out! New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse is Lanai-bound.

"I love Hawaii, I absolutely love it and I'm so excited about spending some time with lots of great people and great food," said the multi-faceted chef, whose name is pronounced like "emerald," and lah GAH see.

The James Beard Award winner oversees a culinary empire of three restaurants, a daily Food Network TV program, a cookbook and a signature spice line.

"They invited me a couple of years ago and it's taken this long for my schedule to allow the trip," he said about a July 13-14 engagement in the Lodge at Koele's Visiting Artist Program. (Reserve at 1-800-321-4666.)

Lagasse will incorporate Hawaii products into his intriguing dishes; for example, Maui onions into a confit of wild and exotic mushrooms, and Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate into his pecan pie.

"The greatest thing about coming to Hawaii is all the produce and the wonderful cottage industry of growers. We will try to find fresh resources that we can use and then sort of Creole-ize them."

He also brings New Orleans staff members - including sous chef Elmer Guzman, originally of Maui - and ingredients, such as regional Plaquemine's Parish oysters; caviar of Louisiana's prehistoric Choupiquet fish; in-house cured Cajun-spiced Tasso hams; handmade Andouille sausage; plus spice blends and extractions.

"All of our items are made completely from scratch, even our Worcestershire sauce. I think that's what really stands out about Emeril's food."

Lagasse said he cooks 15 to 16 hours a day at the 7-year-old Emeril's. His other restaurants are the 3-1/2-year-old NOLA in New Orleans, and the 8-month-old Emeril's New Orleans Fish House in Las Vegas. Besides "The Essence of Emeril" TV show, he will release a second cookbook, "Louisiana's Real and Rustic," in August and open a fourth restaurant in Orlando in 1997.

"My general philosophy is I just try to do a little better than the day before."

Following is a recipe he will prepare July 13 on Lanai.

4 ripe bananas
2 cups heavy cream whipped with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons sugar
Shaved chocolate

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 very ripe banana, mashed

3 cups heavy cream, in all
1 small vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3/4 cup cornstarch
2-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 large egg yolks

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 cup heavy cream

For filling: Heat 2 cups of the cream in large saucepan over high heat. Stir in paste scraped from inside vanilla bean, and butter, and bring to a simmer.

In small bowl, combine remaining 1 cup cream with cornstarch; blend until smooth. When mixture in saucepan begins to boil, stream in cream-cornstarch mixture, whisking constantly until incorporated. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, combine sugar and salt; whisk vigorously into saucepan until cream is thick and dry ingredients are incorporated. Over low heat, whisk in egg yolks one at a time. Remove from heat; whisk until smooth and creamy.

To assemble: Peel bananas and slice in 1/4-inch rounds. In pie crust, layer, in order: 1/3 of pastry cream, 1/2 of banana slices, 1/3 of pastry cream, remaining banana slices, remaining pastry cream. Smooth top and refrigerate 2 hours or until firm.

For sauce: About 20 minutes before serving, combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Cook, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes or until mixture is a deep nutty brown color and the consistency of thin syrup. Turn off heat.

Stir in cream, return heat to high, and boil sauce 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Use immediately.

To serve pie, cut into wedges and drizzle on warm sauce. Top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate. Makes 12 servings.