Local Chefs To Slice And Dice For Charity

Culinary bragging rights for the next 12 months will be on the line when local chefs go toque to toque in the Fire on the Rock Chef’s Challenge, Saturday, April 14 at the Mariam and Robert Hayes Performing Art Center. The “Iron Chef” style competition is part of the Second Annual Blue Ridge Wine Festival (April 12-15), and the “combatants” from Best Cellar, Bistro Roca, Crippen’s, Broyhill Inn, Ciao Bello at Meadowbrook Inn and the Manor House Restaurant at Chetola Resort welcome the chance to prove their culinary superiority.
Contestants will draw straws and do battle at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Jimmy Crippen will emcee the Challenge (no conflict of interest there), during which each team will be given a “secret ingredient” that must be used in its culinary creation.
Judges are John Batchelor, longtime food critic for the Greensboro News & Record and Don Ball, Food and Beverage Director for the Washington Duke Inn and Golf Resort in Durham. The Blowing Rock Fire Department will provide a judge (and fire protection during the “inflammatory” goings-on), and a member of the audience will also be chosen to participate in the judging.
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture will be involved in the event through its “Got to be NC” campaign, which ties in the great food products grown in North Carolina to the great wines produced in the Tarheel state. Materials on North Carolina-grown products will be available during the competition.
The Blowing Rock Fire and Rescue Department sponsors the “Fire on the Rock” Chef’s Challenge, and proceeds from the event will benefit the Department. Admission is $5, with tickets available on line (blueridgewinefestival.com) or at the door of the Hayes Center during the three competitive sessions.
The competition will feature all the elements and excitement of the popular TV Iron Chef show, with mirrors, microphones and other resources used to keep the audience in complete touch with each element of the food preparation and service - as close to looking over the shoulder of the chefs as possible.
The Blue Ridge Wine Festival is organized and hosted by the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, with support from a number of sponsors and with significant financial assistance from the Blowing Rock TDA, who along with the Chamber operate from the Valley Boulevard Visitor’s Center.
The Fire on the Rock Chef’s Challenge is but one event of the entire Festival weekend. From April 12 through 15th fans and patrons of the Festival will enjoy Winemaker Dinners, auctions, wine tasting, cooking classes by celebrity chefs, seminars, winemaker competitions, champagne brunch and, of course, the grand VIP Charity Reserve Gala which opens the festival on Thursday, April 12th. For more information on these events and other activities of the Festival stop by the Valley Boulevard Visitor’s Center, go to www.BlueRidgeWineFestival.com or call (828) 295-7851.