Owner/Executive Chef Dean Fearing
Chef Dean Fearing stands tall, confident, and charismatic. On his chef jacket is a colorful embroidered image of his much-beloved Lucchese cowboy boots—he has 28+ pairs. (If that doesn't say something about his personality, then what will? His personal involvement in the restaurant is evident as he glides back and forth from the kitchen to his guests, all with a smile. Long known as the "Father of Southwestern Cuisine," there is no mistake: Chef Fearing has a passion for what he does.
Fearing credits his passion for food to days spent in his grandmother's kitchen, learning her classic Southern secrets and the most important cooking technique he employs to date: using an iron skillet. Chef Fearing has spent his life cooking for people who love good food.
"A lot of things inspire me in the kitchen, but the final plate ... the way it tastes, the way it looks, the customer's reaction, all of those are what gets me up in the morning," said Fearing. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, he spent 20-plus years at The Mansion at Turtle Creek. He still treasures and uses Granny Fearing's recipes today at his namesake restaurant, Fearing's.
The exuberant Dean Fearing was winner of the James Beard Foundation Restaurant Award for “Best Chef in the Southwest” and diners from across the country flock to Dallas to experience his signature dishes.
