“Renowned chef Floyd Cardoz dies after coronavirus diagnosis,” read the headline.

It came as a shock.

It’s like I knew the man.

The 59-year-old Mumbai-born chef was diagnosed with Coronavirus on March 18th after admitting himself to a New Jersey Hospital. His tweets, embedded in some of the news reports, give the impression that he was doing it more as a precautionary measure than a matter of life and death.

It’s scary and sad.

Over the past ten years or so, I have eaten at three of the New York City restaurants — Tabla, North End Grill, and Paowalla — where he held a stake. Through this blog post, I will share some images that I captured while dining at his restaurants.

The 2018 New Year’s Eve reservation that we had made at Cardoz’s Bombay Canteen restaurant had to be canceled due to a devastating fire in the adjacent complex.

I liked the food he served at his restaurants.

The fusion— a word I don’t much care for — was just right. The southern coastal influences from Mumbai, Goa, and Kerala were evident in Floyd Cardoz’s dishes.

Clearly, people who know more about food agreed.

Cardoz emerged as the eventual winner of the third season of Top Chef Masters, the American reality series.  

It is hard to believe that Floyd Cardoz, who, earlier this month, appeared in David Chang’s Netflix series Ugly Delicious (S:2 E:2), has succumbed to COVID-19.

I guess it goes to show that you can never be too careful.

Stay home and be safe.

Floyd Cardoz, Rest In Peace.