Wilmington chef headed to Final Fire competition

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A Cape Fear Country Club chef is headed for Raleigh in the hopes of sinking the state title in the NC Competition Dining Series event the “Final Fire.”

The annual competition in Raleigh will bring together talented chefs from all over North Carolina over several nights of competition. The chefs compete by preparing a meal for hundreds of people with a surprise ingredient.

Antoine Murray won the regional competition, “Fire on the Dock,” back in February to qualify for the “Final Fire.” It was Chef Murray’s third attempt at winning the competition; he won with a secret ingredient of NC Certified Angus Beef and Joe Van Gogh coffee.

Murray was the first chef from Wilmington to win the “Fire on the Dock.” He says he’s coming to the competition as an underdog, but knows he’s going to shock everyone.

“I love being the underdog because people don’t expect us to get out there and shine. They don’t know anything about us and I love shocking people like that it’s like wow, this guy can cook with the best of them,” Murray said. “What I want people to know is we’re gonna do our absolute best to bring home the title. We’re just gonna go up there, we’re gonna cook our food and hope for the best.”

On Wednesday, Murray will compete against Michelle Bailey. She won the “Fire on the Rock” regional competition and is a chef at the Season’s at Highland Lake, located in Flat Rock. The winner of that round will then compete against Jon Fortes. Fortes is a chef at the Mimosa Grill, located in Charlotte. Whoever wins that match will then compete in the finals with the winner of the match between “Fire in the Triad” winner Tim Thompson, a chef at Marisol in Greensboro, and “Fire in the Triangle” winner Dean Thompson, a chef at Flights in Raleigh.

The winner of the competition will receive $4,000 and a trip to the Culinary Institute in Napa Valley. Competition founder Jimmy Crippen says the competition is not only about the prizes, but also bragging rights among chefs.

“I would say they are the best competitive chefs in North Carolina without a doubt. These chefs thrive on competition. They love it. They live it. They breathe it and they are the best at what they do,” Crippen said.

Crippen adds this competition is also about state pride.

“This is all about North Carolina – the products, the people, the chefs, the farmers and the diners – and we the organizers of competition dining cannot do it without the help of everybody in the state.”

Tickets are available at competitiondining.com. The event is at the Renaissance North Hills Hotel at 6 p.m.