Competition Dining: Final Fire in Raleigh

If I could summarize this weekend in one word, it would be delicious.

Back in August you may remember reading a recap of my experience at an event called Fire in the City in Charlotte. It was part of a North Carolina-wide dining competition and the finals took place in Raleigh on Saturday night.

The Competition Dining Series is a state-wide dining competition that takes place in five different regions of North Carolina throughout the year. On each evening of the competition, two restaurants battle it out side by side in a single elimination, blind dinner format. Guests of the event enjoy a six-course menu (three courses from each chef without knowing whose food they’re tasting) created around a “mystery” North Carolina-local ingredient that is revealed to the chefs at noon the day of their battle and it must be used in each of their three courses. Guests then rate each dish using an app and results are revealed at the end of the evening.

During our time at Fire in the City in August, a

fire safety video was shared and we were all encouraged to tweet it out with hopes that our tweet might be one of the tweets randomly selected to win two tickets to the Final Fire event. I was incredibly excited when I received a call from Kent Graham, chief of Blowing Rock Fire and Rescue, in October. He told me I won two tickets to the Final Fire and I knew right away Ryan and I would absolutely make the drive to Raleigh to attend. We had way too much fun at Fire in the City to miss it!

(Yumi Kim Carly romper on super sale via RueLaLa // Hue opaque fig tights // Black pumps via Payless // Etsy black clutch // Stitch Fix necklace // Noonday Collection cuff)

During my phone call with Kent, we spoke for quite a while and he emphasized the importance of fire safety, as that is a big part of the call to action of the competition dining series. Did you know that cooking is the number one cause of home fires and burn injuries by a landslide?

After my phone call with Kent, we still had while to wait for the dining competition finals to arrive because chefs in other cities around North Carolina were still competition. Just in case you’re a North Carolina reader, I wanted to share the other cities that also participate in this dining competition because you have to go one year! It’s too fun!

• Fire on the Dock (Wilmington)
• Fire on the Rock (Asheville)
• Fire on the Triad (Greensboro)
• Fire in the Triangle (Raleigh)
• Fire in the City (Charlotte)
• Final Fire (Raleigh)

Ryan and I arrived in Raleigh on Saturday right after lunchtime and made sure to squeeze in some family time because my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousins live in the area!

My grandma’s place was outfitted in autumn glory that was too cute not to photograph!

We arrived and were immediately greeted with chocolate-covered shortbread cookies and warm hugs!

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon with Mimi (the mastermind behind my favorite sugar cookies!) and it was so nice to see her and catch up before we had to head on to my aunt’s house.

Once we arrived at my Aunt Laurie’s, we snacked a bit and enjoyed chatting with my aunt, uncle and cousins. Time flew by waaay too fast and before we knew it, we had to head to our hotel to check in, change and meet up with Ryan and his wife Janessa for happy hour!

Ryan’s friend Ryan just turned 30 last weekend and since my sister was in town, I couldn’t make it to his surprise party so it was especially nice to see him and his wife and wish Ryan a very happy birthday! (Ryan and Ryan have been friends since childhood and he was also a groomsman in our wedding!)

After happy hour, we had to hurry into the main event to grab our seats at Table Three which ended up being one heck of a fun table!

We were able to share the Final Fire experience with some very fun folks: The wonderful people behind NC Beer Guys and Raleigh Brewing Company. Of course this meant the drinks at our table were flowin’ throughout the evening!

My favorite beer of the night was Raleigh Brewing Company’s Hell Yes Ma’am a fruity, spicy golden beer that apparently got its name because Kristie, the CEO and President of Raleigh Brewing Company, insisted to her husband Patrik, the COO and Technical Manager, that this beer had to be sold. It’s now their best-selling beer, reiterating, yet again, the fact that husbands should always listen to their wives. Ha!

As we drank our beers and got to know each other, the energetic host of the event kicked things off and introduced the two chefs that would be competing in the Final Fire.

Chef Dean Thompson of Flights at Renaissance North Hills won the Fire in The Triangle series in Raleigh and Chef John Fortes of Mimosa Grill was the champion of Fire in the City battles in Charlotte and the two chefs would be competing for the $4,000 prize!

Then the secret ingredients were revealed only this time instead of two secret ingredients, there were three: Apple Mill Apple Butter, Atlantic Caviar and Biltmore Winery Sparkling Wine Blanc de Blanc.

Once introductions were made, it was time to eat! Each of the six courses were absolutely delicious, but there were definitely some stand outs.

Here are the courses in the order they were served:

Course One: Competition Dining Breadless Benedict, “Our” Lamb Sausage, Biltmore Sparkling Wine Atlantic Caviar & Pancetta Vinaigrette, Sparkling Wine Caviar Sabayon, Lime Caviar, Egg, Asparagus

Chef Jon Fortes of Mimosa Grill
Voter Score: 28.257
Pro Score: 23.667
Weighted Score: 25.962

Course Two: Pepper-Crusted Venison, Apple Mill Apple Butter & Atlantic Caviar Gnocchi with Apple Brown Butter, Mushrooms, Juniper Biltmore Sparkling Wine Hollandaise, Truffle Oil

Chef Dean Thompson of Flights
Voter Score: 31.455
Pro Score: 24.333
Weighted Score: 27.894

Course Three: Duo of Carolina Pork – Apple Mill Apple Butter Pork Rillette and Biltmore Sparkling Wine Braised Pork Belly, Goat Cheese, Andouille, Leek & Mushroom Bread Pudding, Sparkling Wine & Apple Butter Squash Sauce

Chef Jon Fortes of Mimosa Grill
Voter Score: 29.771
Pro Score: 28.333
Weighted Score: 29.052

Course Four: Breakfast for Dinner – Apple Mill Apple Butter Pork Sausage, Cheddar Chive Biscuit, Atlantic Caviar White Gravy, Perfectly Poached Egg, Fennel with Biltmore Sparkling Wine Vinaigrette

Chef Dean Thompson of Flights
Voter Score: 24.193
Pro Score: 17.000
Weighted Score: 20.596

Course Five: Autumn Harvest Trio – Fried Sweet Potato Pie with Apple Mill Apple Butter Honey Drizzle, Pumpkin Cheesecake with Biltmore Sparkling Wine Grape Syrup, Apple Pie & Walnut Ice Cream, Sparkling Wine & Apple Caramel

Chef Jon Fortes of Mimosa Grill
Voter Score: 28.771
Pro Score: 24.000

Course Six: Carrot & Apple Mill Apple Butter Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate & Apple Butter Streusel, Biltmore Sparkling Wine Icing, Apple Butter Mousse, Sparkling Wine & Atlantic Caviar Salted Caramel, Sparkling Wine Apple Chip, Candied Walnuts, Apple Butter Brandy Frozen Custard

Chef Dean Thompson of Flights
Voter Score: 29.952
Pro Score: 28.333
Weighted Score: 29.143

For me, the best part of the evening comes at the end when all of the scores are revealed and you get to learn which chef made what dish. It’s always so interesting to learn what other diners thought about dishes that you loved or didn’t particularly care for since opinions differ so much!

My favorite two dishes of the evening were course two and course five. The venison and gnocchi combination in course two blew me away and I would order that dish time and time again if it was served in a restaurant. And the fried sweet potato pie and apple pie and walnut ice cream in course five were heavenly! I woke up thinking about them the next day!

In the end, Charlotte-based chef Jon Fortes won and graciously accepted his $4,000 check as everyone applauded. A well-deserved win!

Congratulations to Chef Jon Fortes and thank you so much to Competition Dining for such a memorable and delicious experience!