[title]
Floyd Cardoz puts dishes together like a puzzle, piecing Mexican with Japanese and Thai with Italian. At his buttoned-up dining room in a former 19th-century armory, the Top Chef master veers away from his past in the charcoal pit at North End Grill and the Indian spice of Tabla, instead injecting bold global accents into an American menu. “I was limited before,” he says. “But now I can cook through a different lens and put my passion for flavors from every country into action.” Dishes range from lobster pasta drenched in coconut milk and tamarind, to raw hamachi prepared à la ceviche in a lime-juice broth, to short ribs crowned with pickled onions atop a bed of mustard-and-horseradish grits. Though the ornate chandeliers hanging from the cathedral ceilings—matched with white-clothed tables, leather club chairs and intricate mosaic floors—suggest formal dining, Cardoz insists on approachability: “Nothing is over-the-top,” he says. “We’re just celebrating the diverse cultures of the United States.” 221 West Broadway at White St (212-944-8378, whitestreetnyc.com)
White StreetPaul Wagtouicz
White StreetPaul Wagtouicz
White StreetPaul Wagtouicz
White StreetPaul Wagtouicz