There’s a proud Tampeño on television screens across America, and she’s not only representing the city, but the entire state.
Jada Vidal, who currently boasts the title Chef de Cuisine of new Italian-Japanese restaurant Kinjo, is competing on the newest season of Gordon Ramsey’s “Hell’s Kitchen.”
The theme of the the 24th season of the popular competition series is “battle of the states,” with Vidal representing Florida.
Chef Vidal is on the red team, since the contestants on “Hell’s Kitchen” are typically separated by gender.
The latest season of Gordan Ramsay’s high-pressure cooking show made its debut last month, and is expected to conclude by early 2026—so there’s still plenty of time to watch Chef Vidal make the Sunshine State proud.
Ramsay initially selected 50 chefs to represent each state in the U.S., narrowing it down to 20 contestants to feature on the show.
In the initial episode of the 24th season, the chefs had to present signature dishes to Ramsay for their first main challenge. Vidal served a pan-fried salmon fillet with crispy skin served over koshihikari rice, and received a perfect score from Chef Ramsay.
Despite being only 23 years-old, Chef Vidal has been climbing the culinary ranks in Tampa since she was in high school. She started as a line cook at South Tampa restaurant Elevage as a teenager and landed at Haven as a lead line cook a few years later.
From there, the Tampa native started hosting multi-course pop-up dinners that quickly gained popularity for her creative interpretations of Southern and Caribbean cuisine, with impressive wine pairings to match. These pop-ups helped catch the attention of Chef Eric Fralick, who owns and operates modern Japanese restaurants Noble Rice and Koya with his wife, Adriana.
Vidal stepped up as Noble Rice’s sous chef in 2022 and remained there until the opening of Itameshi restaurant Kinjo earlier this year. Both Noble Rice and Kinjo are sibling concepts to popular omakase restaurant Koya, which received a Michelin star in 2023—one of the very first Tampa eateries to earn the prestigious award.
Although this is her first appearance on “Hell’s Kitchen,” Vidal is no stranger to national cooking competitions. She’s been featured on several Food Network television shows like “Guy’s Grocery Games,” “Chopped” and “Beachside Brawl.”
New episodes of “Hell’s Kitchen” air every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST on Fox, and are also available to stream on Hulu. Follow Chef Vidal on Instagram at @thejadavidal for more information on the popular local chef.
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This article appears in Oct. 23 – 29, 2025.