Helena Rizzo Bins (December 6, 1978) is a Brazilian

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

. She runs the restaurant Maní in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. Rizzo was elected Best Female Chef of the Year by

Restaurant Magazine ''Restaurant'' magazine is a British magazine aimed at chefs, restaurant proprietors and other catering professionals that covers the breadth of the UK restaurant industry. History and profile ''Restaurant'' was founded in 2001. The magazine is ...

in 2014.

Biography

Born in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

, Rio Grande do Sul, Rizzo studied Architecture at the

Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (, PUCRS) is a private non-profit Catholic university. With campuses in the Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre and Viamão, it is the largest private university of the state of Rio Grande do S ...

. She left the college and began working as a model. A friend, model

Fernanda Lima Fernanda Cama Pereira Lima (; born 25 June 1977) is a Brazilian television presenter and model. In spite of a short career in film and telenovelas, she has established herself in popular culture, as a host to a variety of shows on MTV Brasil, Re ...

, invited her to move to São Paulo. She quit modeling and became a cook in 1997, working at the restaurant Roanne, with Claude Troisgros and Emmanuel Bassoleil. She did internships in Europe at the restaurants Sadler, in Italy and

El Celler de Can Roca El Celler de Can Roca is a restaurant in Girona, Catalonia, Spain opened in 1986 by the Roca brothers, Joan, Josep and Jordi. It was first located next to their parents' restaurant Can Roca, but moved to its current purpose-built building in 2 ...

, in Spain. In 2006, when she returned to Brazil, Rizzo, her husband Daniel Redondo, and associates, among them Lima, opened the restaurant Maní. In 2014 Maní was elected the 36th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine, and second best in South America, behind D.O.M. In 2015, it was awarded a Michelin star. In 2018, Rizzo appeared as a judge on the "Brazil" episode of ''

The Final Table ''The Final Table'' is an American cooking competition and reality television series hosted by food writer and critic Andrew Knowlton, and filmed in Los Angeles, California for Netflix. The first season was released on November 20, 2018. It fe ...

'', season 1. In 2019 ''

Food & Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and sea ...

'' named Mani to their list of the 30 best restaurants in the world. In 2021 was announced as a judge on the Brazilian version of the

Masterchef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with MasterChef (British TV series), the British version in July 1990. The show aims to discover the culinary talent of chefs of varying sk ...

franchise, replacing the previous judge

Paola Carosella Paola Florencia Carosella (born October 30, 1972) is an Argentine-Brazilian cook, businesswoman, executive and celebrity chef of Italian descent. She is currently based in Brazil. Biography Paola was born in Argentina, the only daughter of a mi ...

References

1978 births Living people Brazilian chefs People from Porto Alegre Brazilian women chefs {{Brazil-cuisine-stub