One of the St. Louis area’s most thrilling new restaurants is about to give customers not one but two reasons to celebrate: Black Salt (1709 Clarkson), the highly acclaimed modern Indian restaurant that opened in Chesterfield in March 2023, is preparing to open two additional concepts this year, including a takeout and delivery ghost kitchen at The Hill Food Co. (2360 Hampton) and an upscale, Pan-Asian–inspired eatery in Creve Coeur.
By opening two additional restaurants, Black Salt partner Raj Pandey says, the restaurant hopes to grow into a multi-dimensional brand, which will include a variety of cuisines, provide diners with more options, and give talented chef Madan Chhetri more opportunities to showcase his culinary skills. “Our goal is to let chef [Chhetri], who is amazing, experiment with his culinary skills,” Pandey says. “He has a lot of international experience and wants to flex his muscles. We are here to support him and want to give him the platform where he can experiment and show off all that he can do.”
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The Backstory
Anyone who has dined at either Black Salt or Basil India (3183 S. Grand), where Chhetri was first introduced to the St. Louis dining community, understands the depth of his skills. Born in Southern India, Chhetri attended culinary school and cooked in restaurants in Bangalore, Goa, and Mumbai. In Mumbai, he met a restaurateur with fine-dining restaurants in both India and China and divided his time between the countries, infusing his culinary style with elements of the cultures. Eventually, he landed in Northern Virginia, where he helped open an innovative upscale restaurant, Bombay Velvet, which modeled itself after the iconic Washington, D.C. Indian restaurant Rasika.
Basil India’s owners recruited Chhetri to help open their restaurant, where the chef put out dazzling Indian and Indo-Chinese cuisine. He left Basil India to help open Black Salt last March with Pandey, business partner Sanjiv Shekhar, and Pandey’s wife, Shweta. As Pandey explains, they knew that Chhetri was the right person to help them realize their vision for an Indian restaurant that was different from what was currently being offered in the metro area.
“We have a lot of great Indian and Asian restaurants, but we wanted to do something more upscale and modern, and to give diners a great experience the moment they step inside that gives great ambiance, service, and food at a very high bar,” Pandey says. “The idea behind Black Salt is to make sure there is an upscale Indian dining place where friends, families, and colleagues can come together and have a great time.”
The New Concepts
Pandey and his team envision the Creve Coeur Black Salt, which will open at the shopping center near Olive Boulevard and Craig Road, as building upon that fine-dining brand, with dishes that lean more Pan-Asian than strictly Indian. Pandey does not have an exact date for the opening, though he says the restaurant is in the buildout, design, and permitting stage.
The Black Salt ghost kitchen is much closer to completion, with a projected opening date in February. Pandey emphasizes that the location will be takeout- and delivery-only—there is no seating at the facility. He’s excited that the central location, however, will allow the company to bring its food to customers in a different part of the metro area.
“By God’s grace we have been received well thus far,” Pandey says. “We hope to keep that going and build upon that.”
