Got To Be NC Competition Dining Series Announces Chefs and Brackets for Final Fire: Battle of the Champions

The statewide chef competition highlighting the best of NC’s food, agriculture and culinary talent hits the road in November to Raleigh, NC for Final Fire. It’s the only contest where THE DINERS get to judge. Reservations for each night of food and fun open Oct. 30 at 7 pm online at http://www.competitiondining.com/events/final-fire.

Raleigh, NC (Oct. 23, 2013) The Got To Be NC Competition Dining Series announces the participating chefs and brackets in the Final Fire competition. Final Fire will conclude the statewide chef competition and determine NC’s champion. Reservations open Oct. 30 at 7 pm online at http://www.competitiondining.com/events/final-fire. The four competitive dinners will be hosted at Renaissance Raleigh North Hills Hotel at 4100 Main at North Hills St., Raleigh; http://goo.gl/giPDmL.

The series begins on Nov. 20 and concludes on Nov. 23. The Got To Be NC Competition Dining Champions from Asheville, Wilmington, the Triad, the Triangle and Charlotte will compete. The chef brackets were announced yesterday at the Philip L. Van Every Culinary Arts Center at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte. The chefs drew knives to determine the preliminary match-ups, which are listed below with each chef leading a team of three:

Nov. 20: Noble’s Grille, Winston-Salem (John Bobby) vs. Mimosa Grill, Charlotte (Jon Fortes)
Nov. 21: Flights at Renaissance Raleigh Hotel, Raleigh (Dean Thompson) vs. winner of Nov. 20
Nov. 22: Persimmons Restaurant, New Bern (Gerry Fong) vs. Red Stag Grill, Asheville (Adam Hayes)
Nov. 23: Battle between winner of Nov. 21 and Nov. 22

Event reservations cost $119 each excluding beverage, tax and service charge. Diners can attend as many dinners as they like. Reservations open online on October 30 at 7 pm at http://www.competitiondining.com/events/final-fire. Event organizers expect the finals to sell out in 24 hours.

At stake in Final Fire is $4,000, a hand-forged set of knives from Charlotte-based Ironman Forge and a trip to Napa Valley, CA to the pro chef program at the CIA Greystone campus, compliments of Kikkoman. The runner-up receives $1,000.

Now in its second year, The Got To Be NC Competition Dining Series has become a statewide movement. Because all people are chefs, farmers, and diners, the event’s mission is to connect and celebrate this community with a dynamic, entertaining experience.

Sponsors include the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Pate Dawson-Southern Foods, OUR STATE Magazine, Certified Angus Beef®, Pepsi Bottling Ventures and Swisher Hygiene.

HOW IT WORKS: Paying guests will savor each course in a blind tasting alongside a panel of culinary and celebrity judges in a series of four dinner competitions. Each evening, two restaurants “battle” it out side-by-side in a single elimination format. Guests savor a six-course menu (three dishes from each chef without knowing whose food they’re tasting) created around a “featured” ingredient. For each dinner, the ingredient will come from a North Carolina farmer or artisan producer. The featured ingredient is revealed to the chefs only an hour before they start cooking, and it must be used in each of the three courses.

Diners, alongside culinary and guest judges, will rate each dish and determine who moves on to the next round and who goes home.

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For more information, contact Kristen Baughman at (919) 750-5712 mobile or kbaughman@pdco.com (PR Specialist); or Susan Dosier at (704) 993-7871 mobile or susan@DKcommunicationsgroup.com (PR Consultant).
www.competitiondining.com offers event dates, ticket sales, and bios on participating chefs
www.facebook.com/competitiondining offers daily news and updates, photos of chef dishes and more
www.youtube.com/user/CompDiningNC shares videos of the winner after each competition, video bios on each chef and more
www.Twitter.com/compdiningnc uses the hashtag #compdiningnc to enjoy the fun, ongoing conversation