Indian Flavors Play Hide and Seek at Floyd Cardoz's White Street, Says Steve Cuozzo

Steve Cuozzo stops by Floyd Cardoz's White Street and finds a restaurant that hasn't quite settled into itself. "For all its many pleasures, 'modern-American' White Street raises questions":

Can a menu be too finicky for its own good? Are guys cool who dress for a classy room in shirts unbuttoned almost down to their navels? Can we trust a place two months old when Cardoz already has his eye on launching a restaurant in India?

Cardoz's best hand is shown when he borrows from his heritage and inflects American food with Indian flavors like at Tabla.

Those accents were muted later at all-American North End Grill. They're back at White Street but play hide-and-seek, as if Cardoz can't decide whether to be Tabla Lite — or just Lite. A starburst of coriander, Thai chili and black pepper put a happy sting in hamachi tartare in Mutsu apple cider sauce one night. But Sunday, Cardoz was off, and so were the spices, leaving the sweetness unchecked....for better or worse, the menu wanders far off the trail.

Verdict: Two stars.