Floyd Cardoz facts for kids
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Floyd Cardoz in 2011
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| Born | October 2, 1960 Mumbai, India |
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| Died | March 25, 2020 (aged 59) Mountainside Medical Center, Montclair, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Cooking style | Indian |
Floyd Cardoz (born October 2, 1960 – died March 25, 2020) was a famous chef who was born in Mumbai, India. He later became an American citizen. He was well-known for his amazing cooking skills.
Chef Cardoz owned a restaurant in New York City called Paowalla. He was also the head chef at another popular restaurant named Tabla. In 2011, he won Season 3 of the TV show Top Chef Masters. His restaurants in New York were famous for mixing Indian flavors and spices with Western cooking styles.
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Becoming a Chef: Education and Career
Floyd Cardoz first studied at a cooking school in Mumbai, India. After that, he went to the Les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Switzerland. He moved to New York in 1988 to follow his dreams.
In 1992, he started working at a restaurant called Lespinasse. There, he learned a lot from Chef Gray Kunz. He worked his way up from different cooking roles to become an executive sous chef.
Opening Restaurants
In 1997, Floyd Cardoz teamed up with a famous restaurant owner named Danny Meyer. Together, they opened Tabla, which became very popular. He also helped open other restaurants like El Verano Taqueria and North End Grill.
In 2008, he created a line of ready-to-eat meals for an online grocery company called FreshDirect. He also worked as a cooking expert for the 2014 movie The Hundred Foot Journey. This movie was about French and Indian foods blending together.
In 2015, Chef Cardoz opened The Bombay Canteen. In 2016, he opened Paowalla in New York's Soho area. Later, in 2018, he changed Paowalla into a new restaurant called Bombay Bread Bar.
Awards and Special Honors
Floyd Cardoz was nominated four times for the James Beard Award. This is a very important award in the food world. He also wrote two cookbooks, sharing his amazing recipes.
He was the winner of Season 3 of Top Chef Masters. He generously gave his prize money to the Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund. This fund helps with cancer research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In 2011, GQ Magazine named him one of the "Top 50 Most Influential Global Indians."
About His Life and Passing
Floyd Cardoz was married to Barkha, who was also his business partner. They had two sons named Justin and Peter.
Sadly, Floyd Cardoz passed away on March 25, 2020, at the age of 59. He had been in the hospital for about a week. He became sick after traveling from Mumbai to New York in early March.
His Lasting Impact
Many people called Floyd Cardoz the "godfather of modern Indian cuisine." He was the first chef born and raised in India to lead the kitchen at a major restaurant in New York City.
Priya Krishna, a food writer, said that because of Floyd Cardoz, Indian restaurants can be fancy and unique. They can also mix different cultures and be very successful.
Almost a year after Chef Cardoz passed away, a cooking show called Basics with Babish released an episode with him. This episode, filmed in 2019, showed him cooking curry. It was released as the show's 100th episode.
Books by Floyd Cardoz
- Floyd Cardoz: Flavorwalla: Big Flavor. Bold Spices. A New Way to Cook the Foods You Love
- One Spice, Two Spice: American Food, Indian Flavors
