Former truck driver serves up Indian Punjabi flavors at Fresno spot Chatore
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chatore serves Punjabi dishes with bold spices and traditional family recipes.
- Owner Kiran Judge shifted from trucking to restaurant entrepreneurship in 2024.
- Franchise plans emerge as Fresno's Punjabi population nears 50,000 residents.
When Harpreet Singh moved to Fresno in 2008, he noticed the city lacked restaurants where people could experience “the authentic flavors we were so used to having back in India.”
Seventeen years later, Singh opened his own restaurant, Chatore, serving popular Indian Punjabi dishes like butter chicken and street food favorites like samosas. The restaurant’s name, which means “foodie” in Punjabi, is a nod to the owner and his family’s love for the unique flavors of their homeland in India.
“Indian food is full of spice and fragrance, but I think the local restaurants tend to offer sweeter flavors,” Singh said. “I wanted to open a restaurant that truly shows what Indian food is — full of spices, flavor, and love.”
Chatore opened in April at 6701 N. Milburn Avenue in the Herndon Place shopping center.
Singh’s background isn’t in food. Until recently, he worked exclusively in the trucking business and had previously owned a gas station in Stockton, which he later sold. But throughout his life, he’s always experimented with food and new recipes.
One item in Chatore’s menu that grew out of that experimentation is his creamy chicken, served with a nutty, smoky white gravy made from cashews and white pepper. His menu also includes family recipes like lemon chicken, made with ginger, black pepper, lime and yogurt. Singh says both dishes are perfect for people who prefer milder flavors.
“I was about eight or nine when I started grilling chicken over charcoal,” Singh said. “My lemon chicken comes from my great-great-grandparents’ recipe, and the tandoori chicken spices are theirs as well. I decided to carry on the tradition.”
That said, the menu includes everything from pani puri — crisp, hollow shells filled with tamarind — and mint-spiced water and a savory potato and chickpea filling — to crispy golden samosas stuffed with potatoes and served with chole and green and red chutneys.
For each dish, customers can choose their preferred level of spice: mild, medium, or hot.
Butter chicken, which is an Indian dish made with a spiced tomato and butter-based gravy, is also popular at Chatore. Singh says it’s because of the careful way they prepare and cook it.
“We marinate the chicken for 24 hours before cooking it, and then we cook it in a traditional clay tandoor oven,” Singh said. “We cook it until it’s about 80 percent done, then add the gravy and butter sauce. The butter sauce is full of flavor, and the smokiness from the clay oven’s char adds a lovely touch and smooth, rich taste.”
Along with appetizers and full meals like the butter chicken, Chatore also offers Indian desserts, made in-house and sourced from local Indian vendors. One of these is laddu — a sweet, round treat made from garbanzo beans, flour, sugar and nuts.
Singh believes these flavors are ideal for Fresno, noting that the city’s Punjabi population has grown significantly over the years.
“This has become a hub for the Punjabi community. I’ve watched the Indian community grow since I arrived in 2008, and I believe there’s still plenty of room for it to expand further, just as Fresno itself continues to grow,” he said.
As of 2024, an estimated 50,000 Punjabi immigrants and their descendants live in Fresno, making them one of the largest ethnic groups in the Central Valley. With that growth, Singh says, comes a desire to see Chatore grow right alongside the community.
“We want to open up more locations. I am currently talking to my legal team, so that they can prepare franchise agreements and we can have all of that in order,” Singh said.
This story was originally published October 3, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
