{"id":155288,"date":"2026-03-06T14:20:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155288\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T14:20:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:20:38","slug":"brooklyn-based-chef-sherry-cardoso-to-compete-in-new-season-of-top-chef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155288\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn-based chef Sherry Cardoso to compete in new season of \u2018Top Chef\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Sherry\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Sherry Cardoso is competing on the new season of \u201cTop Chef.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo by Paul Cheney\/BRAVO<\/p>\n

A Brooklyn-based chef is going up against some of the best of the best in Bravo\u2019s new season of \u201cTop Chef.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Now in its 23rd season, \u201cTop Chef\u201d brings in 18 chefs into the competition, hosted by Kristen Kish. Each week, the head judge Tom Colicchio and perennial judge Gail Simmons will determine who will advance and who will be eliminated from the competition. The winner goes home with the grand prize of $250,000 provided by Graza Olive Oil, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, and an appearance at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. The winner will also headline their own exclusive dinner at the historic James Beard House in New York and have the opportunity to present at The James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago, IL.<\/p>\n

Joining the lineup of chefs is Brooklyn\u2019s Sherry Cardoso, Chef\/Partner at Cynthia.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

As a child growing up in Brazil, Cardoso recalls her mother using food as a way to express her love rather than saying it out loud. At that time, being a chef never really crossed Cardoso\u2019s mind because it wasn\u2019t seen as a very good job to have.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot in a million years I thought I was going to be a chef because back in the 90s in Brazil, being a cook, it was very blue collar and you did that if you don\u2019t want to go to university,\u201d said Cardoso. \u201cBack in the day, there was no Michelin guide, there was no prestige, there was no recognition in Brazil at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sherry CardosoPhoto by Sasha Israel\/Bravo<\/p>\n

After moving to the United States at around 14 years old, Cardoso read New York Times restaurant critic Ruth Reichl\u2019s memoir, \u201cGarlic and Sapphires,\u201d and it completely changed Cardoso\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time in my entire life that I read or I saw somebody talking about food like it was poetry, and that for me was like a big bang moment that my entire life just made so much sense. The fact that like my mom wouldn\u2019t say I love you, but she would make me my favorite breakfast every morning, or we would come home and if she was home, she was always cooking,\u201d said Cardoso. \u201cShe couldn\u2019t express all these emotions, but she could cook for us, and that just made all the sense in the world. And then from that point on, I was like, that\u2019s it. I want to make food that makes people feel like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardoso has since made quite the name for herself throughout her career, having worked in restaurants such as Le Cirque, Anthos, and Brooklyn Fare before landing her first Executive Chef position at Caf\u00e9 Cluny in the West Village. She has since served as Culinary Director of Baxtrom Hospitality, overseeing three major restaurant openings in NYC, and Executive Chef at Metropolis by Marcus.<\/p>\n

Her current venture, Cynthia, is a fine-dining restaurant in the West Village that is expected to open this month.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New York, having that understanding of what it takes to plant a seed, to see it like grow, to harvest, and then to eat it, I think that\u2019s such a deep appreciation for that entire process. And for me that was just the foundation, and that\u2019s how I cook now, and that\u2019s a big part of this project I\u2019m currently working on,\u201d said Cardoso. \u201cI\u2019m just like so excited to share that, you know, and that was a little bit of what I\u2019ve tried to showcase in the show. It\u2019s just like coming from this very humble beginning and really grinding my teeth in fine dining kitchens in New York City, trying to prove myself and trying to prove my worth.\u201d<\/p>\n

From executive chef to \u201cTop Chef\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardoso told amNewYork that it was very exciting to be a part of \u201cTop Chef.\u201d She said it was particularly invigorating to be surrounded by such talented chefs she was competing against.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really lit up the spark of when I first started cooking in fine dining. I felt like I was surrounded by such amazing talent, and the fact that when you\u2019re cooking in a restaurant, you have days sometimes before I even put a dish on the menu, it takes me like a whole month of R&D and trying and redoing it and figuring out the size and like how we\u2019re going to serve it. In the show, you have 20 minutes,\u201d said Cardoso. \u201cAnd every single dish, if you don\u2019t hit that nail on the head, you go home. And for me that was like such an incredible challenge, and I felt so energized by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The cast of Season 23 of \u201cTop Chef.\u201dPhoto by Paul Cheney\/BRAVO<\/p>\n

Cardoso noted that time in the \u201cTop Chef\u201d kitchen felt like it was moving faster than normal. She told amNewYork that 20 minutes felt like 20 seconds, a stark difference from working in restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no idea how fast time goes by, you blink and 20 minutes are over. In restaurants, you spend 10 hours a day in the kitchen prepping and focusing on perfection. There, you\u2019re just trying to get something that\u2019s good enough to go on the plate,\u201d said Cardoso.<\/p>\n

As the new season of \u201cTop Chef\u201d continues to unfold, Cardoso says that viewers can look forward to seeing some incredible food.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the talent is so high this season. [Even after] 20 years of cooking in three-star Michelin kitchens, I would look around and I\u2019d be like \u2018holy s\u2013t,\u2019 I\u2019m doing that now!\u201d said Cardoso. \u201cThe chefs\u2019 [I competed with] food, it was phenomenal; I was blown away. I was so impressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new season of \u201cTop Chef\u201d premieres on Bravo at 9 p.m. ET. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sherry Cardoso is competing on the new season of \u201cTop Chef.\u201d Photo by Paul Cheney\/BRAVO A Brooklyn-based chef…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[9865,98,100,99,9868,9,24,63,64277,64278,1869],"class_list":["post-155288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-bravo","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-cooking","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-sherry-cardoso","tag-top-chef","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}