as Sofrito in Manhattan.
BY Edgar Sandoval and Jose Martinez
He's got the hot dish from inside the Yankee clubhouse.
Chef Ricardo Cardona is the Bronx Bombers' man behind the stove, fueling the team's postseason push with healthy Latin-accented delights and developing scouting reports on the players' favorite foods.
Jorge Posada enjoys anything with conch, the Caribbean shellfish meat. A-Rod sticks to organic chicken and vegetables. Derek Jeter savors the chef's pork chops.
Then there are the other players on the roster who, according to Cardona, "eat pretty much anything."
"They love the food," Cardona said. "The best compliment I get is, 'Damn, that's good.'"
The head chef at Sofrito, an upscale Puerto Rican eatery on E.57th St., Cardona, 43, started his culinary career as a busboy.
Soon enough, he was pinch-hitting in the kitchen, and within 10 years, he was cooking in upscale restaurants for the likes of Jennifer Lopez and new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
And now the father of one from Riverdale has the prized Yankees gig, where he says his winning formula includes meals high in protein and healthy carbohydrates.
"It's a dream come true," he said on a recent night at Sofrito. "No one dreams of one day cooking for the Yankees. Life took me here."
Cardona also cooks for the visiting teams at Yankee Stadium, and points out that the Red Sox are notorious for helping themselves to seconds.
"I guess they don't eat much Latino food over there in Boston," he says with a smile.
Cardona, a Yankees fan, says he works hard to not show his pinstriped allegiance, especially when cooking for the team's opponents.
"You give them their food, just staying calm," he said. "Then you go out and scream outside because the Yankees just won. And you come back with the same serious face."
While Cardona says he likes to keep the ballplayers on a hearty athletic diet, he once in a while whips something up with his special oils and spices.
Paella, a classic Spanish dish with seafood and rice, may be on the menu if the Yankees clinch their 27th World Series championship.
"My version, of course, is different," Cardona said. "I add the Latin flavor, that extra spice.
"They deserve it. I may just make it for them when they win the World Series."
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