RALEIGH — Twenty-five restaurants have been selected to compete this summer in the Best Dish in North Carolina competition sponsored by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Our State magazine.
The finalists will represent one of two regions within the state in either the fine or casual dining category. Each region will have a single judge who will be responsible for choosing that region’s winners in both categories. Judges will remain anonymous until they have completed their scoring process, at which time they will reveal their identity to the chefs.
Representing the Eastern Piedmont/Coastal region are: Gravy Italian-American Kitchen of Raleigh; Sitti Restaurant of Raleigh; Rhett’s Restaurant, Personal Chef and Catering of Southern Pines; Market Restaurant of Raleigh; Bull Street Gourmet & Market of Durham; Angelina’s Kitchen of Pittsboro; Bald Head Island Club Restaurant of Bald Head Island; Catch of Wilmington; and Tonali of Durham.
The finalists for this year’s competition in the Western Piedmont/Mountain region are:
Pleasant City Wood Fired Grille of Shelby; Bistro 42 of Asheboro; HomeGrown of Asheville; Curate of Asheville; Sunny Point Café of Asheville; Off the Square of Albemarle; Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen of Greensboro; Spring House Restaurant, Kitchen & Bar of Winston-Salem; Vidalia Restaurant and Wine Bar of Boone; Red Stag Grill of Asheville; Season’s at Highland Lake Inn of Flat Rock; Marisol of Greensboro; Westglow Resort and Spa of Blowing Rock; Gallery Restaurant of Charlotte; Crippen’s Country Inn & Restaurant of Blowing Rock; and Mast Farm Inn of Valle Crucis.
“This marks the seventh year of the contest and the interest among restaurants continues to grow,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “I encourage everyone to support state food producers, growers and restaurants by visiting these restaurants and experiencing the best local recipes in North Carolina for themselves.”
The Best Dish in N.C. competition is a statewide contest to determine North Carolina’s top restaurants that use and promote North Carolina food products on their menus. The competition recognizes and rewards the efforts of restaurants and chefs who use North Carolina products regularly in their menus, and it increases awareness of the quality of local foods and restaurants and the talent of N.C. chefs.
The 25 finalists were chosen based on their proposed menus and marketing plans for promoting the menu. Chefs were allowed to enter a combination of dishes (for example, an appetizer with an entrée and dessert), but each was judged as a single entry.
Competition finalists are required to feature the dish or combination of courses in their restaurant for at least a four-week period running between May and September. During this time, the judges will visit each finalist within their region to sample the entries and judge each restaurant on its use of North Carolina products, creativity, presentation, taste and promotion. First-, second- and third-place winners will be announced in November.
Visit www.bestdishnc.com for more contest information.
Source: N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
