Introducing The Daily Meal Council: Floyd Cardoz

Floyd Cardoz has been the executive chef of North End Grill in Manhattan's Battery Park City since it opened in January 2012 and announced just last week that he'll be leaving the restaurant to pursue additional culinary projects and to work on a forthcoming cookbook. He attended culinary school in his native Bombay, and interned in the kitchen of the Taj Mahal Intercontinental Hotel. He went on to attend Les Roches, a prominent hotel management and culinary school in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Moving to New York, Cardoz worked under Gray Kunz at the celebrated Lespinasse, rising to the post of executive sous-chef. Before opening the North End Grill, he was executive chef–partner of Danny Meyer's Tabla, a New Indian restaurant. He published his first cookbook, One Spice, Two Spice, in 2006, and three years later, launched a line of meals for online grocer Fresh Direct. He is also the consulting chef for El Verano Taqueria at Citi Field in Queens and Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. In 2011, Cardoz won Bravo's Top Chef Masters competition, donating his $100,000 grand prize to the Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

What's your earliest food memory?

As far as I can remember, food has always played an important role in my life. From coming home for a mid-day school lunch, to poking my head in the kitchen to see what was for my next meal. My mother reminds me that when I was a lad, if there was no seafood for lunch, I would be so upset that I would cry. She also would say of me "Most people eat to live, Floyd lives to eat." We had a cook when I was growing up so I always remember my mother discussing our meals with the cook every day in the morning, after which our cook would purchase our daily supply of fish, meat, and vegetables from vendors who walked around our neighborhood, or go to the local market to shop. But the meals I remember the most are the ones we had when we were in Goa visiting my grandmother and great-grandmother. Every summer we spent four to six weeks at their home in Goa. We only ate Goan food. Our eggs and chicken were from the yard, the seafood was the freshest, caught that morning. The rice was from our fields and the coconuts used were from our coconut groves. Every meal was cooked in earthen pots over wood fires that went all day long. The mangos and jackfruit were from our yard as was the water from our well. All food waste was fed to our pigs, which were eventually slaughtered for sausages, salted pork, roasts, and stews. When we left to go back to Bombay we were given our share of sausage, coconut, rice, mango, and jackfruit. These meals were seasonal, local, and freshly harvested, caught, or slaughtered.

When did you first decide that you wanted to be a chef, and why?

Surprisingly I was studying to be a scientist. While I was an undergrad at St. Xavier's College, Bombay University, I read a book, Hotel by Arthur Hailey. I was very intrigued and fascinated by the entire hospitality world. I realized then that I was not going to continue in the science world. I decided that after graduation I was going to the hospitality world. While studying hospitality management, I had to spend time in the kitchens of the school. I was surprised that I was a natural in the kitchen and had the talent for it. My dishes in class always tasted better than anyone else's and I was continuously trying to learn new techniques. After my first year, I decided to do my internship in a kitchen so as to get it out of the way. I chose the kitchens of The Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay. It was during that time that I realized how happy it made me feel, and that this could be an option. When I fulfilled my obligation, I decided that was going to follow my newly discovered passion for cooking. I knew then that I was breaking every rule of society by following that line of work. You just did not go into the kitchen. Most people believed that there was no future for an educated mind in the kitchen. My first years were the hardest for my personal and social life — I had none — and I was not making any money to boot. I had to borrow money from my family just to pay for my train tickets. I worked six days a week 14 to 18 hours a day, but I was happy and felt that I had found my calling.

Who was your most important culinary influence?

I have had the opportunity to work with many talented and wonderful people, both in the front of the house as well as the back of the house, who have all contributed in some way to making me the chef I am.  My culinary influences have been many. The one person who most profoundly affected me (even though I came to that realization recently) was my maternal grandmother, Esme. Nana, as we called her, was in our lives through much of our growing years. We loved her cooking and her passion for food and eating. She insisted that we always ate fresh food and we were not allowed to waste. Her mantra was: use everything, waste nothing. She taught me the value of 100 percent utilization and to see the wonder in bones, fat, offal, heads, and lesser cuts of meat.  She lived to 96, all the time loving pork fat. She also taught me to always cook with love.

My second most important culinary influence was Gray Kunz. He made me understand food and flavors much more than anyone I know. He taught me the skill of balance and texture in all my food. By using heat in my food, I was able to harness heat as a flavor profile in my food. Gray introduced me to the marrying of Asian influences in French food, thereby opening my world to using Indian influences in Western food. Giving food texture makes it more exciting and makes it taste better.

What are the most important lessons you learned from that culinary influence? [pullquote:left]

I never waste anything. I always find reason to use every part of an animal. It has helped me be more creative. In my opinion, coaxing flavor out of lesser cuts makes one a better cook. It has also helped me cook more seasonally. When ingredients are in season they taste amazing and have a great price to go with it. This makes so much business sense as you do not have to charge your guests an unrealistic price. I always create with love; it makes my food taste better. 

Balance is the most important aspect of any dish. Always play salt, spice, sweet, sour, and bitter flavors off each other. I have learned to make my food with layers and never have any one ingredient overpower another.

What advice would you give to a young would-be chef just starting out?

I always think of what I would have wanted said and done to me when I was a young cook. I feel cooks today are different from 10 years ago; we live in an instant gratification society and do not wish to take time to learn the skills necessary to be a good, if not great chef. Spend time to learn technique; learning repetition is what makes cooks and ultimately chefs really good. Spend the time to perfect your craft. Every ingredient is different and the same ingredient can be different from day to day. Repetition is what's going to teach a young cook how to deal with these differences. Always cook with passion and be generous doing it. Cook from the heart and from a happy place. I always treat my cooks with the respect they deserve, if they make mistakes, I do correct them and explain to them how and why it is not correct. My mantra everyday "Good food and cooking is not only about how good food looks and tastes but also how good it makes the guest eating and the cook feel during the process "

When and why did you first come to America, and specifically to New York?

I knew from my time in India that I would not continue my career in India. I knew if I was to have any success in this field I would have to immigrate to Europe or Australia. The U.S. was not even part of the conversation. When I was in school in Switzerland, my brother Bryan immigrated to the U.S. and tried to convince me that moving to the New York would be the best thing for me. I had no interest in coming to the U.S. After much convincing, I decided to visit for his wedding and if I liked it I would think about immigrating here. I landed in New York in 1988. When I arrived, the food and restaurant scene totally fascinated me. I decided I would try to get a job but gave myself a deadline of August 14, 1988. I tried so many places but initially had no luck, then a day before I was to go back I got a job.

How has American appreciation or understanding of Indian food changed, if at all, in the time you've been here?

When I first came to the U.S., I was surprised at how bad the offerings were. With a very few exceptions, I felt that most good Indian restaurants were located in the outer boroughs. There were only a couple of good Indian restaurants in Manhattan. At that time, you were either an Indian food fan or not. The food offered was mainly North Indian or Mughal cuisine. There were a few South Indian restaurants that mainly offered dosa [a rice batter and lentil crêpe]. Food from the other states was not offered. Inevitably, the restaurants served a cuisine that was over-spiced and had oil floating on the top. Most of the cooks took up their jobs without any formal training. And as with all recipes, as they were handed down form cook to cook, the finer points of the cuisine and dishes were lost. Over the past 15 years, that has changed. We are getting to enjoy more regional cuisines as well as simpler, less heavy dishes. This has helped push the envelope of where Indian cuisine can go. Guests are also starting to understand that Indian food does not have to be heavy, greasy, and over-spiced, but can also be seasonal, delicate, and refined. We have realized that Indian food is more than just chicken tikka masala (a dish incidentally I had not eaten until I was 18!). Our increasing love for a balanced diet lends itself to making Indian cuisine a mainstream cuisine. Our burgeoning love for goat today has also helped to spread the word of the cuisine where goat plays a very important role. That being said, I don't feel that Indian cuisine has reached its full potential. Our love for spices and exciting cuisine will make Indian food much bigger

How, if at all, have you been able to apply your experience of Indian cooking to your experiences cooking French food, consulting for a taqueria, and now doing American food with Italian and French accents at North End Grill?

All cuisine has its origins in cooking from the heart with passion. When I grew up, our food at home had a more international mix as my father had been educated in England. In my opinion most cuisines have a lot in common, though there are slight variations in flavorings and seasoning. But there is always a common line. I think that my Indian cooking has been positively inspired by other cuisines. Mexican was easy for me, as the ingredients were very similar and the use of salsa, moles, and tortillas are very similar to chutney, curry, and roti.

Cooking over charcoal and wood is very similar to cooking on a tandoor in India, where the fuel source is charcoal. I am able to harness that energy source to its fullest capacity at North End Grill, as I spent my early years cooking on a tandoor. I feel the biggest influence Indian food has had on all my other cooking is the predominant use of contrasting flavors and textures. This plays a very important role in making Indian food exciting. All my cooking, whatever the cuisine, has these contrasting flavors and textures.

Do restaurateurs have social responsibility beyond simply feeding people honestly in their restaurants?

I feel as a chef and a restaurateur, my responsibility is to be socially conscious. Profit is not the only factor that needs to be considered when running a business. Too many restaurants focus only on the bottom line. Don't get me wrong, the bottom line is extremely important and is the fuel for all that we do. We have to care about every aspect that touches our guests, employees, and communities as well as farmers, fishermen, purveyors, and the environment. A good ecosystem within this group makes it possible for all within that ecosystem to survive, while making our planet have a sustainable future. We are responsible for preserving this earth for future generations. Learning to be a cook that utilizes everything with minimal waste helps achieve that goal. Not supporting practices that affect any one of the stake holders is irresponsible. The new crop of chefs and restaurateurs understand that. Understanding how our actions impact us today and tomorrow is very important. Our ability to affect people not directly related to our business is also important. No one ever writes about the generosity of most chefs who try to make this world a better place with the charity they do. It's all coming from a place of being socially responsible. Our generous feeding spirit fuels this endeavor. We all understand what we need to do, and always do it under the radar, in our own small way. You can only feed people honestly and with integrity if you have honesty and integrity within your soul. The restaurant business is not the finance world, where profit is the be-all and end-all. One has to do the right thing for the betterment of society 

What future project, real or imagined, excites you most?

My love for Indian food is and will continue to be of prime importance to me. Indian cuisine is a great cuisine that does not get the recognition it deserves. Seeing the future of where Indian cuisine can go is what really excites me. There are a billion people in India who love the food and flavors, why is it not more mainstream here? I have a couple of things up my sleeve. Making Indian flavors more accessible in a very non-formal, fun way is where I see the next step in my career. I wish to open more doors for guests to get in and enjoy these foods and flavors. Recreating my cuisine of Tabla is also a dream that I wish to have reborn. Above all, I would like to bring my style of cooking to India. I am speaking to an ex-employee of mine in Bombay and we might just have something up our sleeves in the near future. I am also looking forward to publishing my second book. My love for cooking starts with my family and these recipes will have its origins in what I cook on the weekend at home.