No, I’m not talking about hoops, but instead the just as exciting last two nights of The Got to Be NC Competition Series. Competing in tomorrow night’s battle are the Sedgefield Culinary Crushers, winner of the Greensboro teams, and Team Vidalia Boom, champion of the Winston Salem regional battle. The winner will go on to face Raleigh’s Team Mirepoix in the grand finale this Sunday, November 20, 2016.

The good news is there are still tickets left for this fun event, where attendees get to rock the vote on who the final champion is. The bad news is that this will mark the official end of the culinary tournament, so get your tickets now while you can (more about that at the end of this post.) According to the folks at Competition Dining, “The 2016 Battle of Champions dinner events will mark the official end of the Got to Be NC Competition Dining Series. After five years of successfully celebrating North Carolina’s agriculture and culinary talent through more than 300 interactive dinner events, 1,830 locally sourced dishes and 30,000-plus fed people across the state, the founder and event host Jimmy Crippen is retiring the competition in order to pursue other ventures.” Trust me, you won’t want to miss this ultimate final showdown.

If you’re not familiar with The Got to Be NC Competition Dining Series, it’s a single-elimination tournament highlighting the best of the Carolina’s food, agriculture and culinary talent who battle it out to take home the coveted annual championship title. Foodies from around North Carolina may purchase tickets to savor full-service, six-course meals and serve as judges. Each bracket has two chef teams who prepare three courses centered on a featured North Carolina ingredient that is revealed only an hour before they start cooking that day. New to the competition this year, the creation of All-Star Dream Teams allows chefs from different restaurants to partner together for the three-person teams, upping the potential caliber and creating a more fun and competitive atmosphere for all.

The champion not only wins bragging rights, but also a grand prize of $4,000 in cash and prizes. Each winning team member will also take home a handcrafted chef knife by Ironman Forge and a 40-quart Grizzly cooler, compliments of Joyce Farms.

All Battle of Champions events are held at NC State’s Dorothy & Roy Park Alumni Center located at 2450 Alumni Dr. in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tickets for the Nov. 18 battle are $119 each, and tickets for the grand finale battle, Nov. 20, are $139 each. Learn more and buy tickets www.competitiondining.com/events/battle-of-champions. But hurry, they are going fast!

Full disclosure: In return for this blog post, I get to serve as a media judge for Friday night’s semifinal showdown and enjoy some awesome culinary creations from of the state’s best chefs. Lucky, lucky me!

Bon appétit!

Eat, drink and be merry!

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