Cooking to win
Thirteen Wilmington-area chefs are among 16 pro cooks competing in the 2013 Fire on the Dock cooking contest at Bluewater Waterfront Grill. Using a secret ingredient, from North Carolina, revealed just...
View ArticleNever too much at Fire on the Dock?
All that fuss under all that competition pressure -- was it worth it?
View ArticleBiscuit story at Fire on the Dock
Fire on the Dock master of ceremonies Jimmy Crippen advises the cooking competition’s attendees not to try to guess which chef is putting out which dish at the contests. “Mothers have been wrong,”...
View ArticleFire on the Dock shares the love
Cooking and emotions blend as well as peanut butter and jelly. The comfort of eating good food at times seems trumped only by the joy that goes into preparing it, as evidenced at Feb. 20 Fire on the...
View ArticleTop chefs at Crystal Coast Restaurant week
Chef Clarke Merrell was, no doubt, shaking pans as fast as he could last night as he propelled himself toward winning Fire on the Dock’s Battle North Carolina Wine, but Merrell won’t let up during his...
View ArticleTexas Pete and hot chefs!
Chefs produced what I think were some of Fire on the Dock's best dishes to date.
View ArticleDelicious elements of surprise
If you’ve been following the 2013 Fire on the Dock cooking tournament at Bluewater Waterfront Grill in Wrightsville Beach, you know that just about anything edible goes. A guinea hen liver cookie,...
View ArticleCooking contest inspirations
Cooks discover lots of ideas at the professional chef tournament Fire on the Dock, going on through April 3 at Bluewater Waterfront Grill in Wrightsville Beach. Granted, the dishes contestants attempt...
View ArticleChefs in the shadows
Mention the word chef these days and what usually comes to mind is the super-charismatic Bobby Flay type, the highly respected Daniel Boulud type or the say-anything Gordon Ramsay type. Television...
View ArticleLast Wilmington chef standing
Compared to Wilmington celebrity toques Keith Rhodes of Catch or Shawn Wellersdick of Port Land Grille, Josh Petty, the last Wilmington chef in Fire on the Dock 2013, is an unknown.
View ArticleWilmington chefs on the move
Who's where and what's cooking...farm-to-table tapas, chipotle-seasoned short ribs, pork belly carnitas, sticky rum ribs served with cheddar/bacon/fried onion macaroni and cheese . .
View ArticleThe best of Fire on the Dock
Who won, the series best dishes and some of my favorite moments.
View ArticleGirls! Girls! Girls! Female chefs at Fire on the Dock
Women are among Wilmington's best chefs, three of whom will be in the mix of eight competitors when the annual cooking contest Fire on the Dock returns this month
View ArticleRoot beer & N.C. “Italian” wine at Fire on the Dock
The sweet potato and root beer was a just-right match, balanced by the scallop's caramelization and the gremolata's garlic and lemon zest. A tablemate suggested root beer in pumpkin pie or pecan pie as...
View ArticleSouthern Collards should be the new kale
Will collards be the new kale, darling of diners seeking farm-to-table fare? If the 2014 Fire on the Dock chef competition is any indication, maybe.
View ArticleCooking lessons learned at 2014 Fire on the Dock
As the contest moves into its final battle tonight, I'm thinking back to the ideas I got during the 2014 tournament, part of the statewide Competition Dining Series that ultimately crowns an overall...
View ArticleChocolate, ice cream and N.C. root beer!
In my favorite round, Battle Uncle Scott's Root Beer, Merrell, who runs the tapas restaurant and "cocktaileria" Circa 81 restaurant in Morehead City, prepared one heck of a riff on a Black Cow, that...
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