August 21, 2013 · 12:06 pm

Picture of the Week – Iris inside NCMA!

Iris in the NC Museum of Art

Iris in the NC Museum of Art

This week’s picture comes from my very first visit to the North Carolina Museum of Art this past Friday for the weekly “Art in the Evening” event. I had no idea that inside the museum I would find Iris, a full service restaurant serving american fare with an international flare.  According to those who have eaten there has some really great food. I’ve been told the brunch menu in particular is something to check out.  Of course being inside the museum means the dining setting is picturesque as well. I look forward to heading back soon to dine there. You can view their full menu on their website here.

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August 20, 2013 · 10:15 am

Chef Dean Thompson of Flights Wins Fire in the Triangle!

Chef Thompson's new knife

Chef Dean Thompson is the proud winner of a handmade chef knife by Ironman Forge in Charlotte. He is pictured with event host and founder, Jimmy Crippen (left).
Photo courtesy Competition Dining

Last night’s “Battle North Hills” wrapped up Fire in the Triangle. Sixteen chefs from the Triangle competed in the competition that began July 8 and concluded last night. On Monday evening, bragging rights went to Chef Dean Thompson and his team from Flights at Renaissance Raleigh Hotel. He won in a competitive battle against Chef Scott James of Midtown Grille, another North Hills’ restaurant in Raleigh, N.C.

In the dining room at Rocky Top Catering’s 1705 Prime, guests waited to hear the final numbers, eyes riveted on the event host and founder, Jimmy Crippen. Crippen briefly quizzed each chef and his team members about how the day had unfolded. After recognizing the outstanding team at 1705 Prime, Crippen rattled off the scores for all six courses. Chef Dean Thompson and teammates Anthony Zinani and Matt Thompson took home the trophy, a $2000 check, a handmade chef knife by Ironman Forge in Charlotte, and the coveted red chef’s jacket only a Competition Dining finals winner can receive.

Flights team with the $2000 check

Left to right: Mac Sullivan (Pate Dawson-Southern Foods), Matt Thompson, Anthony Zinani, Dean Thompson, Jimmy Crippen (Founder of Competition Dining)
Photo courtesy Competition Dining

The $2000 check was presented by Mac Sullivan, chief executive officer of Pate Dawson-Southern Foods, lead sponsor of the event, and Jimmy Crippen, host and founder of Competition Dining.

Fire in the Triangle challenged the chefs to use two featured ingredients, Certified Angus Beef® and Fullsteam Brewery’s El Toro and Hogwash. The chefs were required to use beef in two courses and Fullsteam Brewery’s “plow-to-pint” beers in each of their three courses for 140 diners. The chefs are not told what the featured ingredients will be until noon on the day they compete.

Course 5, Flights

“Homer Simpson” Beer, Coffee & Doughnuts, Beef Cake & El Toro Tiramisu, Banana Ice Cream, Hogwash Caramel, Chocolate Glazed Krispy Doughnut, Beef & Wonton Sprinkles — Chef Dean Thompson of Flights
Photo courtesy Competition Dining

Visit the Competition Dining flickr photo album for last night’s event for more delicious images of the wonderful dishes prepared by Chef Dean Thompson of Flights and Chef Scott of Midtown Grille. For more information about the Competition Dining Series visit their website and check out the great video below by Kelly McCullen of UNC-TV about the event.


Next Up – “Fire in the City” Charlotte
The competition dining series now moves on to their next event “Fire in The City”, taking place in the Queen City of Charlotte. Chef’s for the Charlotte series will be announced at 6pm on Wednesday August 21st. Tickets for “Fire in the City” are on sale now and can be purchased here. If you can’t make the event but want to follow the action online follow @CompDiningNC on twitter or on facebook. 

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August 19, 2013 · 8:53 am

Swim Across America Comes to Raleigh!

SAA

For 26 years, Swim Across America (SAA) has been raising money for fight cancer. Now, with the support of NC State University, this iconic event is coming to Raleigh on Sept 21, 2013 to hold a fundraising pool swim for the whole Triangle area community! Whether you are on a swim team or just a casual swimmer, join them for a day full of fun, family and swimming!

NC State University has donated the 50m competition pool at the Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center for the event on Saturday, September 21 from 11am-4pm.   The NC State University Swim and Dive Team will be at hand volunteering.

Pool Swim Format
They are replicating an open water course in an indoor pool! All the lane lines will be pulled out and a buoy will be placed at each corner of the pool. 1 lap will equal 150m.

How to Participate
Local swimmers (all levels welcome)  help raise money to fight cancer by getting pledges and signing up for individual swims ranging from 2 miles, 1 mile, ½ mile or sprint distances or participate in other aquatic activities.

Choose Your Event
 SSAwill be offering individual swims, relay swims and aqua aerobics!

Individual Swims

  • 2 Mile competitive (under 50 minutes)
  • 2 mile (over 50 minutes)
  • 1 mile competitive (under 25 minutes)
  • 1 mile (over 25 minutes)
  • 1/2 mile fun swim
  • 1 lap sprints (150m) – these will be grouped according to age and ability

Relays

  • (including kids relays, parent-child, and grandparent-child)

Aqua-Aerobics

  • 30 minutes aqua-aerobics class
  • 1 lap (150m) aqua-run
Water Polo

Water Carnival
After the swim events, there will be a water carnival that will include kayaking, water polo skills demo, and scavenger hunts for kids in addition to a Olympic Clinic run by Sue Walsh, UNC Alumni, Ray Carey, Stanford Alumni, and Craig Beardsley, University of Florida alumni.

About Swim Across America (SAA)
Swim Across America is the inspired sequel to a triumphant Run Across America completed by the two founders of SAA in 1985. This eight-month journey, which spanned the country from Boston to Los Angeles, raised over $1 million for cancer research.

What makes this trek all the more remarkable is that one of the determined runners, a 22-year-old from Fairfield, CT, had lost his right leg to cancer a decade before. Following college graduation, these two childhood buddies embarked on their mission, making history in the process. Together, they instilled hope in all who fight this disease and heightened consciousness about overcoming this frightening diagnosis.

It was in 1987 that Jeff Keith and Matt Vossler decided to bring their cause back home and transitioned from running to swimming for a cure. With a focus on raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment, Swim Across America was chartered as a 501c3 nonprofit organization.

26 Years and $45 Million Later
Twenty Six years later, SAA has raised over $45 million dollars. SAA funds almost two dozen prestigious organizations across the country including Sloan-Kettering in New York, San Francisco Children’s Hospital,  Johns Hopkins, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

This year, Swim Across America is going to help support Dr. Cavanagh’s Research Lab at NC State University.  His laboratory has been able to make chemotherapy regimens up to 1,000x more efficient.

For more information
Visti the Swim Across America Raleigh Event Website at Swim Across America Raleigh

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August 16, 2013 · 3:31 pm

Elevation Burger Brings Organic Burgers to Raleigh!

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Elevation Burger in Brier Creek

On Thursday I had the opportunity to get a special sneak peek at Elevation Burger, a new casual burger restaurant opening up in Raleigh’s Brier Creek shopping Center. One thing to note right off the bat is that this place is different from other burger places in that it features 100% organic, grass fed, free range beef. This is something that can be tough to come by when getting a burger locally. I am pretty excited about this new dining option. If you want to check them out they will be holding their public Grand Opening this Saturday August 17th from 11am-9pm.

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Elevation Burger with Aged Cheddar

In addition to the 100% organic burgers the menu also includes veggie burgers with a vegan option, fries cooked in olive oil, salads, and a host of different (and very addictive) milkshakes and malts. There are tons of great topping options, including a great six month aged cheddar cheese as well as organic bacon . I went for their flagship “Elevation Burger”  made up of two beef patties. My toppings of choice were the aged cheddar, lettuce, tomato, pickle, mustard, and ketchup. I really enjoyed the burger. The aged cheddar really added a great flavor to it. The fries were pretty standard, but overall I was very pleased with the meal and enjoyed the fact that it was organic since what I eat and where it comes from is something I take seriously. Like the Elevation Burger motto says “Ingredients Matter”.

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Counter Service

Typical counter service is offered at Elevation Burger. You simply place your order at the register and they call your name when your order is ready. I was there pretty early when only a few people had arrive for preview night so they actually brought the food out to the table. Not sure if that will be the approach when they are busy, but it was a nice touch. I also had several friendly employees stop by the table to check on me to see if I needed anything else and offered to clear my table.

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Indoor Seating

The inside seating area is open and spacious with wood floors and lots of tables and lots of natural light from the windows lining the walls. One thing I noticed was there were no TVs on the wall and no blaring music. Actually there was no music at all. I like unplugging when I eat out so I found this a welcome absence. I asked the owner Marc Finch about this and he explained that Elevation Burger “strives to provide a conversation-friendly atmosphere with no televisions or background music to distract families from spending time with one another.”

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Coca Cola Free-Style Machine

As with most new places Elevation Burger has fully embraced the new Coca-Cola “free-style” drink machines that offer tons of drink & flavor options. I don’t drink soda anymore so I opted for an iced tea. It was interesting drinking their tea because they don’t offer the typical sweet or unsweet options. They simply offer a Cinnamon Orange brewed tea that apparently originated from California roots of the founder of Elevation Burger.

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100% Organic Beef

The Elevation Burger grand opening event this Saturday will be centered on the theme “Elevate your Education” to help inform guests about the ingredients they’re eating, why it’s healthier and the benefits of eating organic. The event will also be the first of many tied to local schools. Elevation Burger is helping to kick off the school year right by encouraging its guests to bring school supplies to the event. All supplies collected will be donated to Brier Creek Elementary School, of which Elevation Burger recently became a proud sponsor. For more information about Elevation Burger and their menu check out their website and facebook page below.

Elevation Burger
8301 Brier Creek Parkway, Suite 101
Raleigh, NC 27617 (map)
website: http://www.elevationburger.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElevationBurger
twitter: @elevationburger

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August 16, 2013 · 9:04 am

West 94th Street Pub in Durham ~ Grill Master Cook Off Results!

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West 94th Street Pub in Durham

Earlier this month I was honored to participate as a guest judge at a Grill Master Cook Off competition  held by the West 94th Street Pub in Durham. The event featured 7 backyard chefs in a friendly competition to see who could make the most creative and tastiest barbecue chicken and corn on the cob. Competitors also had the option of creating a specialty item for judging as well.  At stake was a free trip to Las Vegas for the winner and the eternal glory that comes with winning the title of “Grill Master”!

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Chicken on the Grill!

The public was invited to come taste each competitors creations and earned the right to do so by helping a great cause – feeding the hungry. To get a sample of the grilled food, those attending could make a monetary donation or donate food to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC. The event ended up raising over $450 in monetary donations and more than 1,800 pounds in food donations.

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Public Tasting

I was one of four judges for the event. Joining me in the enviable task of eating all this wonderful food was Kathy Hanrahan of WRAL “Out & About,” Durham Magazine Editor Matt Dees, and Nancy Wykle of the Durham Herald Sun. When we first arrived all four of us walked around and got a feel for what each grill station was creating.  Given there was a hungry crowd waiting to sample we quickly go down to business trying each of the seven dishes created and recorded our scores.

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Music by the band Plan B

Judging was extremely difficult because all of the competitors did a really great job and I found something I liked about each dish. It was amazing how seven people could make such different and yet wonderfully delicious barbecue chicken using there different techniques, spices and rubs. While I enjoyed everything I tried, there were two competitors that really “made it work” for me when it came to flavor, tenderness, and creativity.

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Watermelon Eating Contest

When the judging was done I had these two competitors ranked almost exactly the same. I was curious to hear the final results and whether or not my fellow judges ranked them in a similar fashion. While we waited for the votes to be tallied I enjoyed a cold beer and watched a good old fashioned watermelon eating contest.

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The Winning Dish

In the end, the winning chef and “Grill Master” of the day was Jay Adams. He was one of the two competitors I had ranked at the top and I was very happy to see him to take home the well deserved win.  He had crafted a great sauce to marinated his chicken with that was a combination of some secret spices, molasses, and sea salt.  It really made for a delicious and tender piece of barbecue grilled chicken. He also did a great job with the corn on the cob by keeping it simple but adding some unique flavoring with a peppering of spices.

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Chef Jay Adams and his Son Working the Grill

While talking with Jay during the competition he mentioned he is working on launching his own sauce business and it is in the early stages of development. You can check out his website for future updates on his sauces and events. I look forward to trying some more of his great food in the future and hope he enjoys his well deserved trip to Vegas!

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The Competitors

I love competitions like this, because they raise money for a good cause and it brings local amateur chefs together. During the contest I even saw a few of the chefs visiting each others grill stations to try their different dishes and compare notes. It was nice to see such comradery among the competitors. The folks at West 94th Street Pub did a great job organizing the event and helping to raise money for a great cause. Check out their website below for more info about the pub, their menu, and future events. I plan to go back soon to try their famous fish ‘n’ chips!

West 94th Street Pub
4711 Hope Valley Road
Durham, NC 27707 (Map)
Website: http://www.west94stpub.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-94th-St-Pub/216732515166
Twitter: @West94thStPub

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