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NEW ORLEANS - Commander's Palace executive chef James P. "Jamie" Shannon, who succeeded Emeril Lagasse in that post in 1990, died Nov. 23 in Houston, where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer. He was 40.
Shannon, a 17-year veteran of the famed New Orleans restaurant and co-author of the "Commander's Kitchen" cookbook, was known as a champion of southern Louisiana regional ingredients and a consummate cook. He won the James Beard Award as best Southeastern chef in 1999 and led the kitchen of Commander's Palace when the Beard Foundation named the restaurant the nation's best in 1996.
Shannon was born Oct. 31,1961, in Sea Isle, NJ. He was introduced early to local foods when he visited his grandparents, who owned a nearby farm, where they raised vegetables, chickens and hogs. He later worked in a...