After Tuesday night's propane adventures at Crippens, the "Battle Game" match-up between the "out-of-towners" was a rather calm affair.  It was so calm, in fact, that host Jimmy Crippen kept his tie knotted the whole evening.

The mystery ingredients shown to the competing chef teams as they arrived at Crippens earlier in the day were "Manchester Farms Fresh Quail", "Chateau Royale Rabbit Sausage", and "Mountain River Elk." For a reporter that grew up hunting quail and other game in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Central California, it was an evening of great anticipation.

The first course, "Buttermilk Fried Quail" with sweet potato puree and cranberry-orange relish, was revealed as a Hearthstone preparation by Chef Joe Turner and team.  While this preliminary was "sold out" (like all of the other elimination events) in terms of reservations, the threat of snow in the High Country kept a few folks away and made the scoring totals slightly diminished from other preliminary rounds -- because the diners are the judges.  So at first glance, the 1,413 points registered by the Hearthstone dish seemed "light," but when you take into consideration the weather absences, it actually was a bit above average.

Chef Michael Spencer of Table 220 Fusion Grill in Hickory countered with "Elk Bolognese with Saffron" and quail egg fettucine.  Interestingly, the fettuine was "homemade", made on the spot during the afternoon.  This unique and tasty dish garnered 1,329 points for the Table 220 crew.

Next came the all-important main course entrees, and both teams' preparations were well-received.  Hearthstone opened with "Grilled Mixed Game Sausage" that included elk, quail and rabbit, accompanied by golden jewel rice pilaf and lobster scented hollandaise. This masterpiece earned 1,449 points from the discerning diners-turned-judges.

Not to be outdone, Table 220 came loaded, putting out the #1-scoring dish of the evening in its "Rabbit Stuffed Quail and Quail Mousse", with puffed wild rice, creamed leeks, carrot-ginger emulsion, pickled blueberry sauce, and quail fat powder. By capturing 1,516 points with this culinary treasure, the Table 220 team narrowed the Hearthstone advantage to just 17 points -- with only the desserts to go.

Whereas some of the early Fire on the Rock preliminaries have seen some good teams shoot themselves in the foot with what turned out to be a disappointing recipe, that wasn't the case in this event. Both sides earned hoots and howls for the courses they served up, and both desserts won widespread praise.

Hearthstone offered "Lavender-Honey Quail Egg Ice Cream" with candied bacon and an almond cookie, earning 1,493 points.  Table 220 was close behind with its "Dark Chocolate Quail Egg Mousse", including coconut quail egg creme anglaise and toasted pecan praline, tallying 1,417 points from the judges.

FINAL TOTALS: Hearthstone 4,355 and Table 220 4,262 -- so Hearthstone moves on in the competition dining tournament by a mere 93 points.

Giving everyone a break for Valentine's Day, the next Fire on the Rock elimination round contest is February 22, featuring Jackalope's View of Banner Elk vs. Blowing Rock's own Bistro Roca.  February 23rd has Sorrento's (also of Banner Elk) facing off against Canyons.

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