Stephanie Cmar is an American private chef and television personality best known for competing on three seasons of ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional ch ...

''. Cmar was a finalist in '' Top Chef: All-Stars L.A.''

Early life and education

Cmar's first restaurant job was at age 15 at the Muffin Shop in

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends into the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. Attache ...

. In 2007, she graduated

Johnson & Wales University Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fa ...

Career

Cmar has worked at several restaurants including B&G Oysters, Stir, and at Barbara Lynch’s flagship restaurant, No.9 Park, as a

sous-chef A sous-chef is a chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the ...

. Cmar left No.9 Park in 2014 to operate the pop-up donut shop, Stacked Donuts. Cmar and Justin Burke-Samson operated a catering company and pop-up called Party of Two. Party of Two toured the US in 2014. In 2015, Cmar became the executive chef at Fairsted Kitchen in Boston. June 2015 to February 2016, Cmar was the executive chef of Fairsted Kitchen in Boston. Cmar Left Fairsted to return to being a private chef. Cmar originally participated in the qualifying rounds on the first episode of '' Top Chef: Seattle'', alongside her close friend from culinary school Kristen Kish, who ultimately won the season. Cmar was not chosen to move on into the competition proper. Cmar was invited back to compete in '' Top Chef: New Orleans'' and placed seventh after a controversial elimination in which the worst-performing chef of the challenge was unable to eliminated due to his immunity. Cmar was invited to return again for '' Top Chef: All-Stars L.A.'' and was often described as the underdog of the season. Cmar advanced to the finals in ''All-Stars L.A.'', but ultimately lost to Melissa King. She served as a guest judge on ''

Top Chef Amateurs ''Top Chef Amateurs'' is an American reality competition series which premiered on July 1, 2021, on Bravo. It is a spin-off of the ''Top Chef'' television series, featuring home cooks instead of professional chefs. In each episode, two home cooks ...

'' and culinary producer for '' Top Chef: World All-Stars''. In 2020, Cmar launched a mini online cooking show on her Instagram called, "My Shitty Little Kitchen", produced by Brian Pu Ruiz.

Personal life

Cmar has two brothers, Colton and Wyatt. In 2018, Cmar's brother Colton died from a drug overdose. Cmar spoke openly about her brother's death in ''Top Chef: All-Stars L.A.'' and said the first course of her finale meal was inspired by him. In December 2020, Cmar and her husband, David Cavilla, moved from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cmar, Stephanie American women chefs American chefs Top Chef contestants Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Johnson & Wales University alumni 1985 births 21st-century American women