Lagasse was off that night, but his sous chef, a personable young man named Jamie Shannon, came out to visit with the boys from Bessemer. They ended up talking for a half-hour or so.

NEW ORLEANS — Jamie Shannon, who succeeded Emeril Lagasse as executive chef at New Orleans’ famed Commander’s Palace restaurant and championed the use of regional ingredients, has died.

As mourners at Lake Lawn's chapel room in Metairie last Tuesday fought back tears, Jamie Shannon's sister quoted Rudyard Kipling's famous poem "If": "If you can keep your head when all about you ...