Olive Tree Deli Co. chef pops up at wine bar
When The Olive Tree Co. delicatessen closed its downtown store in 2010, fans bemoaned chef Paula Pacini shuttering the stove. The Olive Tree Co. was more like a deli/fine dining hybrid. Born in...
View ArticleNew fall food fest coming to Wrightsville Beach
Autumn’s inaugural Taste of Wrightsville Beach food and drink festival will showcase the town’s many restaurants while boosting fall tourism there, organizers say. Small as it is, the shoreline town...
View ArticleCaffe Phoenix good-bye photo gallery
The restaurant's history, its role in helping to revitalize downtown Wilmington, the many celebrities that dined there right up to the end and the numerous intersting people who worked there...
View ArticleOverinduldge! It’s for a good cause
Chef Shawn Wellersdick, one of Wilmington’s best, is planning the multi-course menu...Legendary pro surfer Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz...will be at the fundraiser.
View ArticleKudos to Port Land Grille
Port Land Grille this month received its seventh-in-a-row DiR?NA award, an honor especially coveted by Wellersdick and Steketee because it is bestowed by meticulous inspectors who consider every...
View ArticleMarc’s on Market to close
Celebrated Ogden staple Marc’s on Market will close on Oct. 28, the restaurant’s owners revealed late Sunday night.
View ArticleServing it forward
The light-hearted charity event produced some great dishes, earning awards for both of the chef teams that participated.
View ArticleCooking classes galore!
Back to school is not just for kids. Sharpen your cooking skills with some of Wilmington's best chefs.
View ArticleChefs battle tonight to feed the hungry
Participating top Wilmington toques include James Beard Award nominee Keith Rhodes of Catch and Phun restaurants and Cameo 19 Hundred’s Kirsten Mitchell
View ArticleBacon jam for the soul
I love...the whole culinary shebang, but what I love even more are the people behind all the great food and drink businesses
View ArticleCooking 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.
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