Hyde Park, NY, June 1, 2011 – Dean Fearing, known as the father of Southwest Cuisine, returned to The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY on Thursday, May 26, 2011, where he was the college’s commencement speaker. Fearing is co-owner and executive chef of Fearing’s, the restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton in Dallas, TX.
The 1978 CIA graduate provided words of inspiration to the 80 newest fellow alumni, recipients of associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts.
Fearing won the James Beard Foundation Award as Best Chef: Southwest in 1994, while at The Mansion on Turtle Creek. Esquire named Fearing’s its Restaurant of the Year for 2007, and Hotels magazine ranked Fearing’s as one of the two best hotel restaurants in North America and among its top 10 in the world in 2009. Fearing was honored as the CIA’s Chef of the Year for 1990.
He is the author of The Mansion on Turtle Creek Cookbook and Dean Fearing’s Southwest Cuisine.
Chef Fearing came to New York State to study at The Culinary Institute of America, but now students in Texas can earn a CIA degree without leaving their home state. The college’s San Antonio campus launches its associate degree program this summer.