Five chefs. Six courses. You be the judge.

Tickets are on sale now for the 2015 Got to Be NC Competition Dining Series’ Battle of Champions, in which diners savor the full-service, six-course meals and serve as judges, voting on aroma, flavor, creativity and more.

“This is going to be an extremely competitive championship series,” said Jimmy Crippen, the series founder and host. “The level of culinary talent this year has exceeded all expectations and we’re confident the four Battle of Champions dinner events will be an impressive culmination of the fun and creativity we’ve seen and tasted throughout 2015.”

The competition runs Oct. 28-31, and kicking off the brackets is Triangle champion Ryan Conklin, executive chef for Rex Healthcare in Raleigh. He’ll face Joseph Cornett of The Flipside Café in Fort Mill, S.C., to determine who moves on in the championship round.  

At each Battle of Champions dinner event, the two chef teams prepare three courses centered on a featured ingredient that comes from a regional farmer or artisan producer.

Featured ingredients are revealed to the chefs the morning of the dinner event and must be used in each course.

The Brackets

The remaining brackets pair Chef Richard Miller of Winston-Salem’s Graze on Oct. 29 versus the Oct. 28 winner; and Chef Todd Warden of The Cliffs Valley in Greenville, S.C. versus Brent Martin of The Summit Room in Charlotte on Oct. 30.

The final night of competition, on Oct. 30, pairs the winners of the Oct. 29 and Oct. 30 brackets.

At stake in the championship is a grand prize of $4,000 cash, two handmade chef knives by Ironman Forge, and a trip to the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley, Calif.

All Battle of Champions events will be held at Renaissance North Hills Raleigh, located at 4100 Main at North Hills St., Raleigh.  

Tickets are $129 each for the first three battles, and $149 for the final championship battle. For the full bracket schedule and more information, see competitiondining.com.