By David Rogers. February 22, 2011.  There were no cherry trees to chop down to commemorate Washington's Birthday at the Fire on the Rock preliminaries Tuesday night at Crippens, but there was a siracha chocolate pyramid worthy of any little Georgian lie and a white chocolate guacamole that host Jimmy Crippen wanted to rub all over his body. Photos by David Rogers

This was competition dining at its finest and out of almost 14,000 total points, less than 500 separated the evening's winner from its "loser."  When the dust had settled and the ballots tallied from more than 100 diner-judges, the Bistro Roca team led by Chef Micheal Foreman had edged the Jackalope's View team headed by Chef Matt Franklin in a squeaker, 7,130 to 6,636.

The secret ingredients for this night's competition were portobella and avocado.  Right at the start, the competition rules came into play because Franklin's marinated stuffed portobella appetizer at Jackalope's is famous for miles and miles around as a first course meal starter.  But the rules clearly state, "Chef teams may not cook dishes from their own restaurans' respective menus (ex. signature dishes)," so the visitors from Banner Elk were forced to "be creative and try something different," Franklin noted afterwards. We didn't hear any complaints, but Jackalope's lost ground as "Avocado and Parsnip Bisque," with truffled portobella and parmesan tuille, was the low-point dish of the evening in attracting 2,005 points.

The evening's overall meal is served to each diner in six courses: one appetizer from each restaurant, one entree from each, and one dessert from each -- and nobody knows which restaurant prepared which dish until all the ballots have been collected and are being counted.

Bistro Roca's appetizer fared slightly better as the 4th best-scoring dish out of the six: "Sweet Curry Leaf Braised Pork Belly," with goat cheese, portobella pate, and portobella demi.  This dish garnered some of the widest range of opinion, from rave reviews to one guest's observation that "...pork bellies should be traded, not eaten."  So the individual scores fluctuated to the extremes, but ultimately the pros scored higher than the cons, at least compared to the first course offering by Jackalope's, notching 2,256 points.

Jackalope's entree offering was "Pan Roasted Grouper," with a  much raved about oyster and avocado ceviche, portobella scented jasmine rice, and lemongrass gastrique.  While elements of the dish drew high praise, the overall dish was the 5th highest scorer for the evening, at 2,233 points.

By contrast, Foreman's Bistro Roca team knocked the cover off the ball with "Carrot, Apple, Jalapeno Juice Marinated Pork Tenderloin & Mushroom Dusted Scallop," with tomato confit stuffed with avocado cheeseake, lentil, avocado, portobella, spinach salad pan jus -- scoring high point honors with 2,498.

Jackalope's countered with an innovative dessert that captured 2nd place among the courses, "White Chocolate Guacamole," with cinnamon fritas.  This was the dish in which host Crippen wanted to wallow for an evening of decadence and debauchery.  And while it captured mostly rave reviews, a few discerning public adjudicators of the culinary arts were not overwhelmed. "This dish is troubling," said one lady. "While it is certainly a creative way to use avocado in a dessert, and it has a crisp, clear taste, there is something about it that just doesn't set well with me.  Maybe it is the finishing taste, I'm just not sure."  Fortunately for Jackalope's, others' palates were "finished off" by the offering as it scored 2,398 points.

Bistro Roca finished the meal and the evening competition with "Dessert Trio," featuring coconut, avocado lime panna cotta, siracha chocolate pyramid, pound cake with five spices, currant chutney, and avocado angalaise.  It scored a close 3rd, with 2,376 points.  Everyone babbled deliriously about the chocolate pyramid, seemed enthusiastic about the lime panna cotta, but was mostly blaise about the pound cake, according to an impromptu Blowing Rock News survey at the end.

As always, it was all in great fun and there were no real losers -- especially among the more than 100 patrons who had each dished out $39 for the right to be judges.  So now Bistro Roca advances to the quarterfinals, where on March 23rd the Foreman-led team will take on Hearthstone Tavern & Grille, another Banner Elk opponent that won on February 9 against Hickory's Table 220.

Tomorrow night (February 23), still another Banner Elk favorite, Sorrento's, faces Blowing Rock's Canyon's in what promises to be a competition dining thriller.

You need reservations. Please call Crippens for more information; 828-295-3487

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