Chef Clarke Merrell of Circa 81 Wins Battle Uncle Scotts Root Beer

Chef Clarke Merrell of Circa 81 defeated Chef Tiffany Eslien of Hops Supply Co. in Battle Uncle Scotts Root Beer. Fire on the Dock's official blogger, Liz Biro has the details on the Daily Dish.

Updates: Got To Be NC Competition Dining Series, Fire On The Rock

Right now: We are now accepting chef applications for Fire on the Rock. We encourage you to reach out to your favorite chefs and ask them to participate in the 2014 series--it's gonna be a hot one!  Applications are online: http://www.competitiondining.com/compete/2014-fire-on-the-rock.

Heads up: The dates, location and structure for Got To Be NC Competition Dining's Fire on the Rock series will be different than in years past. Fire on the Rock will become the premier battle for western NC bragging rights for established and emerging chef talent. We will kick off Fire on the Rock in Asheville, NC with battles beginning on March 10, 2014. Complete competition dates will post on our website soon. We are inviting chefs from across western NC to compete and limiting the number of battles to a total of seven. This allows SERIOUS focus on the chefs at the battles we are hosting, and it allows us more time to promote our winning chefs.

Fire on the Rock Location: Fire on the Rock 2014 will be centrally located at the Lioncrest at Biltmore in Asheville, NC. Again, the first battle is March 10, 2014.

Media Day is Feb. 5: Fire on the Rock Media Day will be on Feb. 5. Come out and meet the competing chefs. 

Got To Be NC Competition Dining Series Announces Fire on the Dock Chefs and Brackets

The statewide chef competition highlighting the best of state’s food, agriculture and culinary talent hits the road in January, and the event is coming to Wilmington, NC. This competition will showcase more women chefs than any region up to this point since the event went statewide in 2012. Reservations for each night of food and fun are available at www.competitiondining.com.

IMAGES AVAILABLE ON FLICKR

Wilmington, NC (Jan. 7, 2014) The Got To Be NC Competition Dining Series, Fire on the Dock, announces the participating chefs in the competition. The seven competitive dinners will be hosted at Bluewater Water Front Grill at 4 Marina Street, Wrightsville Beach, NC; http://www.bluewaterdining.com.

The series begins on Jan. 27 and concludes on Feb. 17. Chefs from across coastal NC were invited to apply for the competition. The final eight contenders were announced today during Media Day hosted at Bluewater Water Front Grill. The preliminary match-ups are listed below with each chef heading a team of three:

Jan. 27: Circa 81, Morehead City (Clarke Merrell) vs. Hops Supply Co., Wilmington (Tiffany Eslien)

Jan. 28: Cape Fear Country Club, Wilmington (Antoine Murray) vs. Prime 1079 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Atlantic Beach Oceanfront, Atlantic Beach (Michael Barnes)

Feb. 3: 1900 Restaurant and Lounge, Wilmington (Kirsten Mitchell) vs. Olive Café & Wine Bar, Wilmington (Katie Carter)

Feb. 4: Sweet & Savory, Wilmington (Josh Petty) vs. South Beach Grill, Wrightsville Beach (James Rivenbark)

Feb. 10: Battle between winner of Jan. 27 and Jan. 28 (semifinals)

Feb. 11: Battle between winner of Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 (semifinals)

Feb. 17: Battle between winner of Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 (finals)

The Got To Be NC Competition Dining Series is part of a larger movement. Because we are all chefs, farmers, or diners, our mission is to connect and celebrate this community through a dynamic, entertaining experience.

Sponsors include the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Pate Dawson-Southern Foods, Certified Angus Beef®, Pepsi Bottling Ventures, and the NC Wine & Grape Council.

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 seven 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. At stake in each series is a grand prize of $2,000, a handmade chef knife by Ironman Forge in Charlotte, and the coveted “Red Chef Jacket.” The runner-up receives $500. 

Reservations for dinners cost $59 excluding beverage, tax and tip. Reservations for the semi-finals and final are $69. Diners can attend as many dinners as they like. Reservations are on sale now at www.competitiondining.com. Hurry. Reservations go fast.

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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

www.Instagram.com/compdiningnc shares photos of the chefs, dishes and more