Fire in the City down to 2

And then there were two: chefs, that is, in the Fire in the City competition dining event: In the Sept. 29 final (it's sold out), Tom Dyrness of Mama Ricotta's will face returning champ Jon Fortes of Mimosa Grill.

Details on the semifinals:

Sept. 22:
Matchup: Dyrness and David Feimster of Fahrenheit.
Surprise ingredients: Not Just Coffee's coffee and donuts from Your Mom’s Donuts.
Highest scoring dish of the night: Coffee-crusted elk, sweet corn flan, port-cherry reduction, cast iron corn and chipotle salsa with Goat Lady Dairy and Your Mom’s Donut biscuit (by Chef Dyrness; see below).
Advancing: Dyrness, with a score of 28.08291032 to 26.76362869.



Sept. 23:
Matchup: Brian Williams of Upstream and Fortes.
Surprise ingredients: America’s Best Nut Co. peanuts and Heritage Farms applewood-smoked bacon.
Highest scoring dish of the night: Heritage Farms Cheshire pork bacon taste plate, bacon confit with creamed kale, bacon and cheddar gougeres with crispy America’s Best Nut Co. N.C. peanut slaw, collard-wrapped Romano pork and bacon sausage with sweet potato puree (by Chef Fortes; see below).
Advancing: Fortes, with a score of 28.92828283 to 26.08716049.