If you have been one of the many local food lovers following along on my adventures with the NCRLA Chef Showdown over the years… can you believe 2026 marks the 10th year of competition?
Cheers to 10 years! As you can see, we’ve taken our logo and dressed it up a bit for the occasion. A decade in, this year’s competition is well underway. Before I start posting recaps and sharing all the wonderful moments we’ve already captured in photos this year; let’s start by looking back.
I want to take a moment to share the story of the competition. How this thing started, where this North Carolina rooted competition is now, and what is still to come this season. So pour yourself something local to sip on and settle in for the read.
How Did the NCRLA Chef Showdown Get Started?
In 2015, Lynn Minges, then President and CEO of the NCRLA, came to me with an idea. The NCRLA is the North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association. Lynn was looking for a one-night event to cap off a two-day NCRLA conference in Raleigh. Something along the lines of a chef competition, and she wanted me to create it.
With only a couple of months to plan, I did what I do best: I picked up the phone. I called a dozen chefs I knew from across the state. Honestly, all chefs I trusted to turn out great food for a couple hundred guests. And chefs I knew would feature as much local product as they could. We also opened the event to any other North Carolina chefs and pastry chefs who wanted to apply. And, yes, we did have some takers to that invitation. Most notably., the chef who walked away with the very first title of NCRLA Chef of the Year.
The Very First NCRLA Chef Showdown Champions
That was Chef Jesse Roque, who at the time had a wonderful little restaurant in Hendersonville called Never Blue. That same year Chef Jossie Perlmutter Lukacik, took the title of NCRLA Pastry Chef of the Year. The two are pictured in the trio of photos above, along with the original NCRLA Chef Showdown logo.
That one night in Raleigh was the spark. From there, the competition grew, year by year. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture has been a part of the action since the very beginning. They are our title sponsor and the impetus for our support of all the local farmers and producers.
Each year the Grand Finale ( the only event open-to-the-public) has taken place either Raleigh or Durham. The one exception was in 2018 when the Grand Finale took place in Charlotte at Founders Hall, pictured below.
How Has the Competition Grown?
In 2017, we added a mixology competition into the mix, pairing North Carolina mixologists with NC distilleries to craft competition cocktails made with local spirits. The first to hold the title of NCRLA Mixologist of the Year was Amanda Britton of Charlotte. Amanda teamed with Muddy River Distillery and a rum-laced milk punch was her winning cocktail. Here she is in the photo below with the other 2017 winners, Chef Matthew Krenz and Pastry Chef Ann Marie Stefaney, the Chef of the Year and Pastry Chef of the Year, respectively.
Instead of doing it all in one night, as more and more chefs and mixologists wanted in, we added preliminary rounds of competition. Then later, semifinal rounds as well. In 2023, we added a mocktail component, so that everyone in attendance could have the option of drinking locally, with or without local spirits. Local is local, in the glass or on the plate.
Today, the NCRLA Chef Showdown runs 11 rounds of competition in all, from one end of the state to the other, every one of them leading up to our Grand Finale.
Proud to say the NCRLA Chef Showdown has grown into the largest culinary and mixology competition in the state of North Carolina. And, its the only one that gives back directly to our state’s hospitality industry. Not bad for an idea that started with a phone call and plans for a one night event.
How Does the Chef Showdown Work?
At each preliminary and semifinal round, our competitors are challenged to create savory dishes, desserts, cocktails, and mocktails that spotlight the finest North Carolina proteins, produce, and products, all locally sourced, creatively executed, and judged by some of the sharpest palates in our state’s hospitality industry. All of our culinary rounds are held at North Carolina’s community college culinary schools, which I love, because every round does double duty teaching and inspiring the hospitality industry of tomorrow.
Just a taste of who has been at our culinary and mixology judges’ tables over the years…
Scores from each round decide who advances, and the whole season builds toward the Grand Finale.
That is where the top titles are awarded: NCRLA Chef of the Year, Pastry Chef of the Year, Mixologist of the Year, Distillery of the Year, and Mocktail of the Year.
Several years ago, we started a partnership with the Dairy Alliance and now also have a separate award category for the best use of real dairy in a dish, dessert, cocktail and mocktail. These are the Dairy Does More Awards.
And, our top winners, along with the first runners-up for Chef and Pastry Chef of the Year, also earn the title of Got To Be NC Culinary Ambassadors, championing North Carolina’s food and drink culture all year long.
Champions Become GotToBeNC Chef Ambassadors
The following photo was just taken at the second preliminary round of 2026 Mixology competition. Thanks to Stephanie Elliott for sharing it with me.
Both of these past champions: Sarah McCabe, left, 2025 Mixologist of the Year and Stephanie Elliott, right, 2023 Mixologist of the Year. Both of these champions have been GotToBeNC Beverage Ambassadors and sat at the Judges Table of the 2026 Mixology prelims.
One note for anyone hoping to come watch: the preliminary and semifinal rounds are private events, open only to competitors, judges, select event sponsors and invited media.
The Grand Finale is the one round open to all of us, and I can promise it is worth the wait.
Ten Years, Hundreds of Stories
It’s easy to get a little reflective when I think about all these past 10 years actually adds up to. Ten full seasons of competition plus a pause in 2020, like so much of the world. When I started to add up the numbers behind the years, it took my breath away.
This year, we kicked off with 102 total competitors, our largest field ever: chefs, pastry chefs, mixologists, and distilleries from every corner of the state. Now stretch that across a decade that began with a single one-night event and grew into 11 rounds a season. You are looking at hundreds of competitors, the judges who scored them round after round, dozens of venues from the coast to the mountains, and more local product than any of us could ever count… truly, thousands of North Carolina proteins, produce, and goods set center stage on a plate or in a glass for everyone to discover. I have loved sharing all the stories. It’s what I do and can’t wait to share more this season.
Behind every one of those competitors was their talent and their heart. Behind every one of those local products was a farmer, a maker, or a producer. That, more than any title, is what the Chef Showdown has always been about… and it is why I still love every single minute of it.
I am not the only one who feels that way. Allen Thomas, who now leads the NCRLA as President and CEO, put it like this:
“NCRLA’s Chef Showdown is a celebration of North Carolina’s culinary and craft beverage excellence creating meaningful opportunities for chefs, pastry chefs, mixologists, and distillers to elevate their careers while showcasing the incredible farmers and local producers who make our industry thrive. As the state’s largest culinary and mixology competition, it’s a powerful reflection of the talent and collaboration that define North Carolina hospitality.”
Allen Thomas, NCRLA President & CEO
And, Chad Blackwelder of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, our title sponsor from the very beginning, agrees.
Watching this statewide competition grow over the last 10 years has been so amazing, fun and satisfying. We have chefs and mixologists that come multiple times to compete and watching them hone their skills and refine their craft is just the best. The NCRLA Chef Showdown continues to connect chefs, farmers and mixologists.
The collaborations that have come from these events are strong and lasting and are truly meaningful relationships.
Chad Blackwelder, Marketing Specialist at North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
What’s Happening in the 2026 Season?
This 10th-anniversary season is a big one, running from May all the way through our September finale. Here is how it is shaping up.
Our five culinary preliminary rounds are taking place at community college culinary schools across the state. Late June 2026 finds us about halfway through the preliminary rounds and I will be recapping each of them on these pages soon.
On the mixology side, we held two preliminary rounds: the Eastern North Carolina round on June 1 at The Hackney in Washington , and the Western North Carolina round on June 22 in Wilkesboro. Details on each of those rounds coming to these pages in the next couple of days. From there, the top scoring competitors are invited to be semifinalists advancing to regional Mixology rounds in August, landing in Wilmington and Charlotte.
The 2026 NCRLA Chef Showdown Grand Finale
It all culminates in our open-to-the-public Grand Finale on September 2 at Bay 7 on the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, NC.
This is the one round anyone can attend, and it is a party: ticketed guests sample bite-sized versions of every competition dish, sip the craft cocktails and mocktails, and cast their votes for the People’s Choice favorites, all alongside 600+ fellow food and drink lovers.
Grand Finale tickets are on sale now, simply click here and secure your reservation.
Want to follow all the behind-the-scenes action between now and then? The best seat in the house is on the NCRLA Chef Showdown’s Instagram and Facebook feeds at @ncrlachefshowdown.
And, of course, stay tuned right here, where I will be sharing recaps from every round from now through September and then some.
A Word About the NCRLA
None of this would happen without the North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association. I am so grateful to the NCRLA for all that this has become. The NCRLA is the driving force behind the state’s $36.7 billion hospitality industry, with a mission to Protect, Educate, and Promote the North Carolina hospitality industry. To learn more, visit www.ncrla.org.
Here’s to the next 10 years… I cannot wait to see who steps up to the plate, and the bar, next. So go raise a glass to North Carolina’s chefs, mixologists, farmers, and makers, and tell them Heidi sent you!
Heidi Billotto is the Executive Producer of the NCRLA Chef Showdown, a widely popular annual event benefiting the NCRLA and directly giving back to North Carolina’s hospitality industry. She is also a culinary storyteller, educator, and on-air expert who brings local food to life wherever she goes. She connects small family farmers, independent producers, and regional makers to the people, plates, and media outlets that showcase their work, then shows her readers and followers how to bring those ingredients home to their own tables. Known for her deep relationships, genuine curiosity, joyful style, and sincere passion for all she does, Heidi elevates local food culture on the regular through cooking, teaching, travel, and media.
#TellThemHeidiSentYou