Update: More mystery about Fresno restaurant and its question-inspiring sign
Update, January 2026: The Yellow Chilli parent company and the local owners have come to an agreement and the Fresno location is open.
Update: Since the publication of this story, the local owners of The Yellow Chilli restaurant and its parent company have had some disagreement over whether the Fresno couple has the right to open a restaurant at the spot at Palm and Herndon avenues.
While reporting this story, The Fresno Bee contacted SK Restaurants Private Limited and its founder and chef, Kapoor, two days before the story’s publication, but neither responded.
Shortly before midnight Friday, a representative of the company, headquartered in India, reached out to say that the couple is “not authorized to open any restaurant in association with Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor or The Yellow Chilli brand.”
They added that Kapoor is not planning to attend the grand opening.
Kamal Kaur and Satvinder Ghotra said they have a franchise agreement with the company from their previous restaurant in Buena Park that runs through 2031. That restaurant closed during COVID-19 and the couple was given the option to get some of their money they paid to the franchise back, or continue with the company.
They chose to continue the arrangement with hopes of reopening in a new location, in an agreement signed in 2021, Kaur said. She says the company wants them to sign a new agreement.
“The point is we do have a signed agreement with them,” her husband, Ghotra, said. “There is a little break of communication, of course, and we are trying to solve it with them.”
They have a personal relationship with the chef and plan to speak to him as soon as possible to straighten out details, Kaur said.
The Bee has responded to SK Restaurants Private Limited but has not heard back yet.
Original story: A bright yellow sign is turning heads and raising questions on Palm Avenue, just south of Herndon Avenue in northwest Fresno.
What restaurant will have a MasterChef and replace the former Blast & Brew and Piazza Del Pane that once was at the spot?
It will be The Yellow Chilli.
It’s a fine dining Indian fusion restaurant, a worldwide franchise founded by a man considered “the most famous chef in India.” It has 28 locations globally, including several in the Bay Area and Southern California.
The local owners are aiming for a late September opening.
The MasterChef is Sanjeev Kapoor, whose fame in India rivals Anthony Bourdain or Rachel Ray in America — and who is expected to come to Fresno for the grand opening of the restaurant, the owners say. Many Indians watched Kapoor, who is Punjabi, on his cooking show for nearly 20 years. He was also a judge on India’s MasterChef TV show.
Californians — perhaps some of the tens of thousands of Punjabis in Fresno — make up some customers at Kapoor’s three Yellow Chilli restaurants in the state.
“Everybody knows his name. Everybody is super excited. The closest one is in Danville and everybody is going there to try it,” said Kamal Kaur.
She and husband Satvinder Ghotra are the Fresno owners of this franchised location.
Locals may know her as the owner of Bubble Bee, the boba shops at West and Herndon avenues in Fresno and Herndon and Fowler avenues in Clovis. She also runs The Curry Life pop-up that serves Indian food at the River Park Farmers Market and other locations.
Kaur and Ghotra opened a Yellow Chilli franchise in Buena Park, south of Los Angeles, in a former Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum in 2018.
The New York Times profiled the couple and their restaurant that year.
The Yellow Chilli’s Fresno owners
Kapoor told the newspaper that many would-be restaurateurs flock to him because of his fame, but don’t want to put in the grind of working holidays and running a restaurant. But not this couple.
“Unfazed is an understatement,” he said to the paper. “They were mad. But we need mad people. We need that kind of passion. Opening a restaurant is a bigger commitment than getting married.”
Kaur and Ghotra were in the process of moving the restaurant to a new location when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
They never reopened, moving instead to Fresno, where they had family. Kaur opened an Indian TV channel and her husband’s company opened a new warehouse.
The food
Kaur describes The Yellow Chilli as fine dining, but not high end. Main dishes at the Santa Clara location’s to-go menu start at $17.99 and top out at $28.99.
There will be a fusion of flavors on the menu, Kaur said. Say, a tradition sweet corn soup, but with Chinese spices.
Kapoor’s signature dish is sham savera, spinach dumplings filled with creamy paneer cheese on a bed of velvety tomato gravy.
The menu is fusion in the sense that “it’s got the basics of the authentic Indian things,” Kaur said, but it’s also “more acceptable to a universal audience, to Hispanics, whites.”
The restaurant, which has two patios, will have a full bar with Indian cocktails and mocktails, local wines and more.
It’s a big space, but Kaur said she thinks the restaurant will be a success in Fresno.
“It’s not only for Indian; it’s more for everybody kind of thing,” she said. “People have money here. They want to go spend money outside.”
This story was originally published September 5, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
