NC Chef Showdown Winners Take to the Airwaves

I am still reeling from all the fun this week as the 2019 NCRLA Chef Showdown celebrated its grande finale on Monday Sept 30, 2019 in Durham NC.

There is still more to share and stories to tell, so stay tuned!

For now, join me as I peep in on the action.

Here I am the next morning, Oct 1 with my co-organizer of the annual event, Mindy Wharton of the NCRLA at a morning-after interview with the NC Chef Showdown winners of the top four awards.

NC Chef Showdown Winners take the Spotlight

The winning line up! From right, Chef Steven Goff of Aux Bar in Asheville, the 2019 NCRLA Chef of the year; Jamie Turner of Earl’s Grocery in Charlotte, the 2019 NCRLA Pastry Chef of the Year; Jonny Burritt of Antidote Bar in Asheville, NC the 2019 NCRLA Mixologist of the Year and Debbie Word owner of Chemist Spirits in Asheville, NC, the 2019 NCRLA Distillery of the Year. This talented crew had a blast with WRAL’s Lena Tillet talking about their newly earned titles.

In Case You Missed It

Next, you can watch the video that aired earlier this week. I love all this fabulous group had to say… Thanks for the airtime WRAL!

Time for a Selfie and other fabulous news…

After the interview, time for this selfie with WRAL 9 am hour co-host Lena and then some photos of our own below…

And here’s the really sweet ending to the story for this week….

This fun interview is just one of the exciting things that happened to our NC Chef Showdown winners this week. Among the winners at the NCRLA Chef Showdown, Pastry Chef Tie Whitaker took People’s Choice honors for the best pastry dish. At the time Tie was very pregnant and nearly at the end of her term.

Tie wowed the judges in her first preliminary round of competition with her take on a peach cobbler.  Her air-brushed peachoid was actually a hand crafted thin white chocolate shell. When the judges cracked it open, they found it filled with a buttermilk diplomat cream & a duo of local peaches.  This sweet salute to NC’s Summer Season was presented over a cake crumb bed of “Dirt”. Tie created the dirt by crumbling a mix of her homemade lavender and lemon cakes. The plate was finished with dehydrated butter cake & peach dust.

In the regional round she created this fun play on summer corn. The “corn” is a chocolate shell filled with sweet creamed corn pudding. The pat of butter on top is a salted caramel ice cream. And, to top it all off, Tie presented the dish to each regional judge in a cast iron skillet. Brilliant!

Tie recreated the seasonal dessert for NC Chef Showdown goers on Monday night. The concept, taste and presentation all attributed to the People’s Choice Pastry honors.

But that’s not all….

The really exciting news for Tie and her husband (and Chef Showdown sous chef) Glen, this week, was the arrival of this precious girl on Wednesday Oct 2.

Life is sweet! Welcome to the word, Sadè Renee Whittaker!