While some chefs call it tortilla
soup because they add slivers of
fried corn tortillas as a garnish,
famed Southwestern chef Dean
Fearing purees them right into the
soup, too. Though born in Kentucky,
Fearing has been one of the leaders
of New Southwestern Cuisine for
more than thirty years. He served
as executive chef at the justly
lauded Mansion on Turtle Creek in
Dallas for twenty years before
starting his namesake restaurant at
the nearby Ritz-Carlton Hotel.