Celebrity Chef Floyd Cardoz Has Passed Away After Contracting COVID-19

Chef Floyd Cardoz was an icon of the culinary world. The Mumbai-born chef worked his way through the trenches of New York’s food scene at Gray Kunz’s legendary Lespinasse before teaming with Danny Meyer to open Tabla. The restaurant earned the chef three stars from The New York Times and cemented chef Cardoz and his Mumbai- and Goan-inspired South Asian cuisine in New York’s food identity.

But that was only the beginning for the chef. Cardoz went on to win season three of Top Chef Masters, guide Anthony Bourdain around Hindu temple canteens in the Outer Boroughs episode of No Reservations, and open lauded South Asian restaurants in New York and eventually back home in Mumbai. The chef appeared as recently as this month on the second season of chef David Chang’s Ugly Delicious, where he guided Chang and pal Aziz Ansari through meals at his Mumbai restaurant. Chef Cardoz’s spent his life illuminating the beauty of South Asian cuisines and his impact was monumental.

According to a statement from the chef’s hospitality company, Hunger Inc., Cardoz was admitted into a New York City hospital on March 17th with a viral fever. According to that statement, Cardoz had flown back from work in Mumbai via Frankfurt, Germany, on March 8th. Cardoz made a post seven days ago on his Instagram account detailing what happened saying, “I was feeling feverish and hence as a precautionary measure, admitted myself into hospital in New York.”

It was announced this morning he succumbed to complications from the virus. He was 59 years old at the time of his passing.

Chefs, foodies, and critics have poured out their shock at this great loss for the culinary world.

https://twitter.com/PKgourmet/status/1242801655038558213?s=20

https://twitter.com/dhmeyer/status/1242796940666028033?s=20