Southern Hospitality From the Godfather

February 24, 2009 1:06 pm

Southern Hospitality From the Godfather

A week after I finished reading Dean Fearing's moving chapter in Chef's Story, Behind the Burner was invited to Dallas by CBS News to participate in a featured segment. As fate would have it, we were able to book a meeting with the The Godfather of Southwestern cuisine himself.

Dean Fearing runs the #1 Hotel Restaurant in the country, located at the Ritz Carlton and appropriately named "Fearing's". The elegantly streamlined grand entrance was packed on a Tuesday for lunch.

Upon meeting Dean, I was thrilled to find that the chef stood taller than me--at 5'11, that doesn't happen every day. I guess everything really is bigger in Texas. And, emitting that unmistakable southern warmth in his trademark cowboy boots, Dean was a consummate Texan.

Beyond his unique ability to make everyone feel special, Dean is truly a culinary master. He showed Divya so many useful things during his segment. For example, always start with a hot pan and make sure your tortillas are warm so that they are more pliable during assembly. He is loved by his staff and definitely a go getter who makes an unbelievable shrimp taco complete with cilantro, mango and pickled red onions.

Dean brought new meaning to the term "Southern Hospitality" when he made his signature tacos for the entire crew so that we could all eat together at the table Esquire voted #1 table to dine at and he even gave us a copy of "Bliss and Blisters" by his band, The Barbwires. Dean is rocking in and out of the kitchen! It was the first time Divya and I had been to The Lone Star State and Dean said that he wished we could stay longer to dine at his beautiful wife's restaurant, Shin Sei, and then return to Fearing's for some dessert. We wished we could stay too, nobody goes hungry when you hang out with Dean Fearing.

-Caroline Alexa McBride