New York’s celebrated chef, Mumbai-born Floyd Cardoz won in the final of the much-watched Top Chef Masters contest. The result stunned food critics and viewers who had put the two other finalists, Mary Sue Milliken of Los Angeles’ Border Grill and Tracy Des Jardins of San Francisco’s Jardiniere, ahead of Cardoz, who co-founded and ran the upscale New York eatery Tabla with restaurateur Danny Meyer before it closed last year. In fact, Cardoz had lost to Milliken several times in the recent past, and ahead of the finale had wishfully told viewers, “She’s my friend, but I can’t wait to beat her.”
“In the end, Cardoz impressed because of the spice and passion that infused his final meal of the season,” Wall Street Journal food critic Charles Passy said, “(He) won by doing exactly what he does at Tabla – that is, honouring his Indian gastronomic roots and finding a way to reinvent his native cuisine at the same time.” One of the judges, Saveur magazine editor James Oseland was quoted as saying, “You cooked a meal that was deeply skilled and very, very memorable.”
Cardoz, who admitted to being shocked by the win, will donate his prize money to the Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund in memory of his father, who died of cancer. “Winning means a lot to me and my family because my family has always sacrificed our family life for me to do what I do,” he said after he triumphed.
