Floyd Cardoz (October 2, 1960 – March 25, 2020) was an

Indian-American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who are also referred to as "Indians" or "Am ...

chef. He owned the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

eatery Paowalla and was executive chef at Tabla, as well as victor on ''

Top Chef Masters ''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo (American TV network), Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff (media), spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef''. In the ...

'' Season 3 in 2011. His New York restaurants were known for food melding Indian flavours and spices with western cuisine.

Education and career

After attending culinary school in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Floyd Cardoz went to

Les Roches International School of Hotel Management Les Roches is a private hospitality school owned by Eurazeo and located in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. History Les Roches is a hospitality school founded in 1979. Approximately 1,118 students from 68 countries attend every semester, with ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. He moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in 1988. He started working under Chef Gray Kunz at Lespinasse in 1992. He worked in various roles from

chef de partie A chef de partie, station chef, or line cook is a chef in charge of a particular area of production in a restaurant. In large kitchens, each chef de partie might have several cooks or assistants, sometimes referred to as demi-chefs, who operate i ...

to executive

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members o ...

. In 1997, he started working with

Union Square Hospitality Group Daniel Meyer (born March 14, 1958) is a New York City restaurateur and the founder and executive chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). Background and early career Meyer was born and raised in a reform Jewish family in St. Loui ...

where he collaborated with restaurateur Danny Meyer to open Tabla. He also opened El Verano Taqueria and North End Grill. In 2008 he launched a line of entrees with the online grocery home delivery company

FreshDirect FreshDirect is an American online grocery company and among the first enterprises to sell and deliver perishable foods to consumers without maintaining a retail operation. It offers its services via a website and mobile app. On December 15, 20 ...

. Cardoz served as a culinary consultant to the 2014 feature film '' The Hundred Foot Journey'', in whose storyline French and Indian cuisines fuse. In 2015 he opened The Bombay Canteen. In the summer 2016, he opened Paowalla in New York's Soho. In 2018 he closed Paowalla and redesigned it to open as Bombay Bread Bar.

Awards and honors

Cardoz was a four-time

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...

nominee and the author of two cookbooks. He is winner of season 3 of

. He donated the prize money to the ''Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund'' at

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS or Mount Sinai), formerly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a private medical school in New York City, New York, United States. The school is the academic teaching arm of the Mount Sina ...

. He was named among the "Top 50 Most Influential Global Indians" by

GQ Magazine ''GQ'' (short for ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' and previously known as ''Apparel Arts'') is an international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though ...

in 2011

Personal life and death

Cardoz and his wife and business partner, Barkha, had two sons, Justin and Peter. Cardoz died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

on March 25, 2020, at Mountainside Hospital in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...

, at the age of 59. He had been hospitalized for a week after travelling from Mumbai to New York through

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

on March 8, falling sick and testing positive for the virus.

Legacy

Cardoz has been called the "godfather of modern Indian cuisine." He was the first chef born and raised in India to lead the kitchen at a prominent New York City restaurant. New York-based food writer

Priya Krishna Priya Krishna is an American food journalist and YouTube personality. She is a food reporter for ''The New York Times'' and has previously contributed to ''The New Yorker, Eater,'' and ''TASTE'' (as a columnist)''.'' She is also the author of m ...

wrote, "That Indian restaurants get to be high-end and personal and regional and cross-cultural and succeed on a large scale—we can, in large part, thank Floyd Cardoz." Nearly a year after Cardoz's death,

Andrew Rea Andrew Douglas Rea (born September 2, 1987; ), also known by the pseudonym Babish, is an American YouTuber, cook, and author. He is best known for founding the YouTube channel ''Babish Culinary Universe'' and for creating and presenting its sh ...

of the BCU released an episode with Cardoz that was filmed in 2019 on cooking curry for the '' Basics with Babish'' series, which was released as its 100th episode.

Books

* Floyd Cardoz: Flavorwalla: Big Flavor. Bold Spices. A New Way to Cook the Foods You Love * One Spice, Two Spice: American Food, Indian Flavors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardoz, Floyd 1960 births 2020 deaths American chefs American male chefs Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey Businesspeople from Mumbai Businesspeople from New York City American cookbook writers Reality cooking competition winners Participants in American reality television series 21st-century American businesspeople American restaurateurs American people of Goan descent Indian emigrants to the United States Top Chef winners