Grove Park Inn Competes in Best Dish in NC

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA (May 17, 2010)  - A culinary team from the Blue Ridge Dining Room at The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa has been chosen to compete in the final round of the Best Dish In North Carolina competition. The Best Dish in NC restaurant contest was inaugurated in 2006 to bring awareness to the numerous restaurants and chefs who feature local cuisine on their menus.  This annual statewide competition is the official restaurant contest of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and its Goodness Grows in North Carolina marketing program.  Judges determine who serves the best food in the state using ingredients that are grown or produced in North Carolina.

The Blue Ridge Dining Room team will be led by Executive Chef Denny Trantham and Chef de Cuisine Charles Jett. The menu submitted by The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa team includes baby lettuce greens from Jolley Farms in Canton, goat cheese from Three Graces Farm in Hot Springs, North Carolina grown sweet potatoes, Watagua Country Ham from Goodnight Brothers in Boone, chicken from Ashley Farms in Winston Salem, and apples grown in Henderson County. The ingredients are routinely used as part of Grove Park Inn’s “farm to table” program.

The finalists were chosen based on their proposed menus and their marketing plan for promoting the menu. Chefs were allowed to enter a combination of dishes.  Competition finalists are required to feature the dish or combination of courses in their restaurant for at least a four-week period in May, June or July. During this time, the judges will visit each finalist to sample the entries and judge each restaurant on its use of N.C. products, creativity, presentation, taste and promotion. First-, second- and third-place winners will be announced in August.

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About The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa

The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa is a four-diamond resort overlooking Asheville's skyline and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Built in 1913, the Inn is on the National Register of Historic Places and a member of Historic Hotels of America and among Travel + Leisure’s Top five Spa Resorts in the United States. Amenities include a world-class spa, Club Floor, award winning fine dining, Donald Ross golf course, tennis, swimming, sports complex, retail shops, nightly entertainment and children's programs.

For information on The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa go to www.GroveParkInn.com.