Cardie G Mortimer

Executive Chef Cardie Mortimer graduated from the New Orleans Culinary Institute in 1978 and has received numerous teaching and culinary certifications over the past 42 years. In New Jersey alone, he has served as a popular instructor at King’s Cooking Studios in Short Hills, Adult School of Montclair, the Adult School of Continuing Education in West Caldwell, and was the 1995 Master Teaching Professional at Chef’s Lab in Montclair.

Over the years, Chef Cardie has acted as an advisor, sous chef, and Executive Chef in many northern New Jersey restaurants and in Birmingham, Alabama and Savannah, Georgia. He was also a guest chef in two Emeril Lagasse restaurants in Las Vegas. Some of the world-class chefs Cardie has worked alongside include Robert Irvine, Neil Doherty (Cisco Foods), Emeril Lagasse, Paul Prudhomme, Sean Roe, Dana D’Anzi Tuohy, and Kevin Belton (New Orleans School of Cooking).

Chef Cardie is most proud of his private, in-home gourmet catering company, “Cardie Cooks, LLC.” He also toured in the nationally acclaimed show, “Culinary Therapy,” where Cardie entertained, educated, and fed senior citizens, hospital patients, and high school and college students in the tri-state area and beyond for over six years. Chef Cardie additionally appeared and cooked twice on the nationally syndicated, “The Better Show,” where he was dubbed “a one-in-a-million chef and a national personality!” Moreover, he was featured on the award-winning 2012 documentary, “Culinary Therapy,” produced by Cablevision’s Emmy-winning “Neighborhood Journal,” and seen by a record-breaking 18 million viewers. This can be viewed on YouTube under the tab, “Culinary Therapy Neighborhood Journal.”

Cardie has served as his church’s Executive Chef for many years. In 2015, he donated his personal funds to erect a state-of-the-art kitchen facility and food pantry for the less fortunate in the Verona, New Jersey area. These amenities are dedicated to his parent’s memories.

In March 2019, Chef Cardie joined the elite Emeril Lagasse Foundation in New Orleans and will be donating his time and culinary efforts to teaching young, aspiring chefs in New Orleans and throughout the country.

In April 2019, Chef Cardie donated, cooked, and served a New Orleans, Mardi Gras-style luncheon for employees of the Life Raft Group, a New Jersey non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for throat and gastrointestinal cancer and aiding those affected by the condition.

In June 2019, Chef Cardie oversaw and cooked a benefit dinner for the Tennessee Valley Coalition for the Homeless in Knoxville, Tennessee. He and his team of volunteers cooked a New Orleans-themed dinner for a packed crowd and raised over $3,000 for homeless war veterans.

Chef Cardie just released his first major cookbook in January 2020, “Keep On Cookin’”.100% of the book’s proceeds will be donated to help fight homelessness throughout the United States.