One of the highlights of the upcoming Triangle Restaurant Week will be the three-course dinner at Southern Season's Weathervane restaurant.

Between Jan. 21-27, dozens restaurants from Raleigh to Chapel Hill will offer two-course lunches for $10 and three-course dinners for $20 to $30.

Chef Ryan Payne won the statewide Competition Dining contest, where chefs compete against each other in a secret ingredient cook-off. Payne won the Fire in the Triangle contest and then won the state finals last fall. This week's menu will feature his winning dishes.

• First course: bourbon-spiked sweet potato bisque with pulled pork shoulder and pickled peppers or sweet potato ravioli with confit pork jowl and Pepsi-sage brown butter and balsamic-Pepsi syrup.
• Second course: sweet potato-glazed pork belly with braised collards, sweet potato grits and duck sweet potatoes or Korean barbecue pork shoulder with blue cheese grit cake, confit tomatoes and crispy jowl bacon.
• Dessert: sweet potato Twinkie with sweet potato butter cream, sweet potato ice cream and praline brittle or pork fat funnel cake with buttermilk cake, Pepsi-apple ice cream and candied pork jowl.

The meal costs $30 and an additional $15 for wine pairings. To make a reservation, call 919-929-9466.

For more information about Triangle Restaurant Week: trirestaurantweek.com

The Chef's Academy in Morrisville is hosting its second annual Triangle Chef Showdown next week to provide 100,000 meals for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

Four chefs will compete in a culinary contest and try to get the public to vote for their dish. Voting costs $1 and the money will be donated to the food bank. The participating chefs include former Top Chef contestant Keith Rhodes of Catch in Wilmington, Scott Schabot of Ruckus in Raleigh and Morrisville, Ryan Payne of the Weathervane in Chapel Hill and John Mannino of Mannino's Italian Bistro in the Virginia Beach area.

The event also includes a silent auction, live music, an open bar and a buffet of student-made appetizers, pastries and desserts. The festivities happen from 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27 at the culinary school's campus at 2001 Carrington Mill Blvd. in Morrisville's Perimeter Park.

The event is free but attendees are asked to RSVP online so organizers can anticipate attendance. To do so, go to http://TCA2.pingg.com/TriChefShowdown. The public is also encouraged to bring canned goods to donate to the food bank at the event.

Last year's event raised enough money and collected enough food to provide 85,902 meals.

If you missed dining at the recent Fire in the Triangle competition, you can still taste the winning dishes of Weathervane chef Ryan Payne.

Payne will be offering his winning menu from Battle Cheese from Aug. 16-18, and the menu from the competition's final, Battle Grits and Chocolate, from Aug. 23-25. Call 919-929-9466 for a reservation at the Chapel Hill restaurant inside Southern Season.

Payne survived three rounds to get to the finals. He beat chef Chris Harris of Raleigh's Fork and Barrel in "Battle Country Ham." He bested chef Scott James of Raleigh's Midtown Grille in "Battle Angus Beef." He won "Battle Cheese" against chef Adam Rose of Chapel Hill's Il Palio. Then Payne won in the finals against Herons chef de cuisine John Childers in a battle involving grits and chocolate. He walked away with $2,000 and a red chef's jacket declaring him the winner.

This was the first year for Iron Chef-style competition that originated in Blowing Rock to come to the Triangle. It pitted 16 chefs against each other in various ingredient battles. Diners and judges helped choose the winner after each six-course meal.

Tickets are still available for the Fire in the Triad competition, which starts Monday in Greensboro. For more information and tickets, go HERE.