The North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association (NCRLA) proudly announces the seventh annual NCRLA Chef Showdown, North Carolina’s premiere culinary and mixology competition.
This annual competition is designed to promote and spotlight the talent of chefs, pastry chefs, and mixologists across North Carolina.
“Chef Showdown has become the place to showcase the incredible talent of the North Carolina hospitality industry” said Lynn Minges, President & CEO of NCRLA.
“Our seventh annual event will feature more North Carolina chefs, bartenders and distilleries than any year prior. These innovative chefs will all work with local NC products; as will the incredibly creative bartenders who will craft cocktails and mocktails as they represent distilleries from across the state,” she added.
Presented by Got To Be NC, the NC Department of Agriculture, the Chef Showdown features culinary and mixology competitors who will showcase North Carolina proteins, produce and products on competition plates and in competition craft cocktails.
New for 2023: A trio of “Undeniably Dairy Awards” to be awarded at the Chef Showdown Grand Finale to the chef, pastry chef and bartender who showcased the best use of NC dairy products in the savory and sweet plates and in the cocktails, they present to judges during the season. Competitors are not required to use dairy products in their competition dishes and cocktails, but if they do, they are eligible to be considered for this trio of additional Grand Finale accolades presented by the Dairy Alliance.
The 2023 preliminary rounds of culinary competition will feature 76 talented chefs and pastry chefs from across the state who have been selected to cook their way through the first rounds of competition on the road to the 2023 win.
In July, only 15 savory chefs and five pastry chefs will move on, based on judges preliminary round scoring, to compete in one of two regional culinary rounds of competition. The same 20 chefs move on to cook for the public and a chance at People’s Choice Award honors, made possible this year by the NC Sweetpotato Commission, at the Aug 14 Grand Finale.
At stake, the coveted titles of NCRLA Chef of the Year and NCRLA Pastry Chef of the Year, to be awarded at the competition’s Grand Finale on August 14, 2023, at The Pavilion at Angus Barn in Raleigh, NC.
In addition to the culinary competition in which chefs start in one of five preliminary rounds held across the state and then, if selected, move on to compete in one of two regional rounds, there is also a mixology component to the annual competition.
This year 18 individual NC bartenders, have each teamed with a North Carolina distillery, and are preparing to shake and stir things up in one of two regional rounds of mixology competition to be held in July 2023. Each bartender will craft two cocktails and a mocktail for a panel of judges to consider, as they vie for one of six spots in the 2023 NCRLA Chef Showdown Grand Finale on August 14.
In the end, one team will be named the NCRLA Bartender of the Year and the NCRLA Distillery of the Year.
The action all starts with five individual preliminary rounds of the 2023 NCRLA Chef Showdown series. All preliminary and regional rounds of competition are private events open only to competitors, judges, media, and invited guests. The public is invited to follow along on the NCRLA Chef Showdown social media feeds.
The NCRLA is proud to compete at some of North Carolina’s finest community college culinary schools throughout this competition, each one serving to teach and inspire the North Carolina hospitality industry of tomorrow.
The 2023 NCRLA Chef Showdown preliminary rounds are scheduled as follows:
• May 8 Preliminary Round – In the Triad at Wilkes Community College Culinary School, Wilkesboro
• May 15 Preliminary Round – In the Mountains at AB Tech Community College Culinary School in Asheville
• May 22 Preliminary Round – At the Coast at Carteret Community College Culinary School in Morehead City
• June 12 Preliminary Round – In the Triangle at Wake Tech Community College School of Baking and Pastry Arts in Raleigh
• June 26 Preliminary Round – In Metrolina at Central Piedmont Community College Culinary School in Charlotte
Tickets for the August 14 NCRLA Chef Showdown Grand Finale will go on sale in mid-July 2023. Mark your calendars now. Stay tuned for details.
