EDGEWATER, New Jersey (WABC) — A highly acclaimed, international chef in the Tri-State area has worked in all sorts of high-profile restaurants, especially ones known for Latin cuisine.
He’s also a personal chef for a number of celebrities, and even the New York Yankees.
For Ricardo Cardona, cooking is his superpower.
“When I talk about food, my eyes open,” Cardona said.
The executive chef has prepared meals for the who’s who in Hollywood, and a Supreme Court judge.
“I’ve been with Mark Anthony for 19 years,” Cardona said.
He is a personal chef for the New York Yankees.
“It’s a big deal. I didn’t realize it because in my country there’s not much baseball, it’s more like soccer,” Cardona said. “I’m like ‘oh my god the Yankees.'”
Originally from El Salvador, Eyewitness News caught up with the 59-year-old inside Don Coqui in Edgewater, New Jersey, where in a single night, he can serve roughly 900 people.
“I love the whole adrenaline, the whole rush,” he said. “You have to be humble in life. If you don’t, life will teach you a lesson, it’s sometimes it’s very hard to get up.”
Cardona came to the U.S. when he was just 14 years old and took a job as a dishwasher at a restaurant in the East Village.
“You always end up helping the cooks so when they see you doing good, they’re like, ‘you should come and learn more,'” he said.
He did and eventually got a big break when the chef at The Ritz Carlton Hotel gave him a chance.
“Back then, there were no cellphones, no internet. We’re talking 1986,” Cardona said. “I used to borrow textbooks from the cooks at C.I.A., and read and dictionary, read and dictionary.”
Once again, the pressure was on when he had to yet again prove himself at a high-end restaurant in Manhattan.
He knocked it out of the park and would go on to become a pioneer in Nuevo Latino cuisine.
He travels the world consulting, has a catering business and loves whipping up classics for the Yankees.
“When I bring arepas and empanadas, they’re like, ‘ohhh my god,'” he said.
He looks forward to the next chapter in his culinary journey… writing a book.
“I want to leave my legacy and to show people how it is for an immigrant to make it,” Cardona said. “When you do something you love, its not like work.”
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