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Maneet Chauhan, founding partner, Morph Hospitality Group
Maneet Chauhan has mashed Indian culinary traditions with those of the American South, and the results have been greater than the sum of the parts.
Now widely known as a judge on the cooking show Chopped and as a former Iron Chef contestant, Chauhan first gained culinary notoriety as the opening chef of Vermillion, an Indian-Latin American restaurant in Chicago. Her 2014 debut of Chauhan Ale & Masala House in Nashville, Tenn., introduced the city — and the world — to a new take on Indian food, translated to be approachable to locals.
Her Morph Hospitality Group now includes not only that restaurant but a handful of other ventures, including a Chinese restaurant called Tansuo, an upscale, modern diner called The Mockingbird and Chauhan’s most recent endeavor, Chaatable, which features her unique spin on Indian street food in a colorful, casual environment.
In a Facebook post, Chauhan thanked her husband and partner in Morph, Vivek Deora, along with her other partners in the venture.
“Chaatable has been truly a very personal journey for Vivek Deora and me, from the dishes on the menu, which conjure up nostaligia, to us rolling up our sleeves and painting, pasting, cutting — doing what it takes to open,” she said.