His new location, Heritage Indian Grill, had a part-time soft opening on Tuesday, Sept. 3. The next day they opened for business full-time.

With this new Cold Brook Plaza location at 45 Hadjis Way, Chadha now owns four Indian restaurants in the North Country region.

Chadha grew up in New Delhi, immersed in food service and the restaurant business. His father and grandfather ran a catering business.

After studying business management at Coventry University in England, he moved to the U.S. in 2012. He worked for restaurants in Syracuse and then, three and a half years ago, he moved to Potsdam to open a new restaurant. That restaurant, Royal India Grill, has a take-out branch, also in Potsdam. In 2022, he opened a Plattsburgh location called Indian Grill.

Chadha is the sole owner of the businesses, but it’s still a family business of sorts. His brother works for him and his wife, Sangita, helps out however she can. His father is now retired, but Chadha still carries a simple lesson that he learned from his father and grandfather’s business. The most important part of food service is customer service, which he summarized simply as: “taking care of people.” He’s worked in just about every position there is in a restaurant, and he likes it all.

“I love serving, talking to people — I love cooking too,” Chadha said.

Chadha hopes to cater to diverse diners from the area and from around the world.

“(Lake Placid) is a good location. It’s a tourist spot, people come from all over the U.S.,” Chadha said.

When the Lake Placid-North Elba Review Board approved the restaurant plans in May, Chadha was tasked with turning a sporting goods store into a restaurant. The location was previously occupied by Olympia Sports and so a full renovation was necessary, including building a kitchen.

“This place was gutted — I had to do everything myself,” Chadha said.

The renovations took about three months and just about everything but the four walls were upgraded. The space has been transformed with furniture and decorations entirely sourced from India: Rust-orange benches with blue accents, folded napkins and gold-colored glasses. The walls glimmer with veins of gold and statues greet patrons at the door.

This location also presents challenges, particularly when it comes to sourcing ingredients. Chadha said it is a challenge to source and ship what they need to the remote Adirondacks — sometimes they have to go all the way to New York City to find the right ingredients and spices.

Chadha lives in Potsdam and commutes to both the Plattsburgh and Lake Placid locations regularly. The hard work has paid off so far — Chadha said that reception from guests has been good.

Heritage Indian Grill is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays.

The large menu includes many classic Indian favorites and some “Americanized” twists, like butter chicken nachos, which Chadha is particularly proud of. And he promises not to scare anyone away with the spice level.

“We want people to come back, so they don’t get afraid of the food,” Chadha said.

This restaurant is the first Indian restaurant to open in Tri-Lakes region in many years. It joins just one other business that serves Indian cuisine locally — Fusion Market in Saranac Lake, a deli and market owned by Pragma and Panesh Prajapati, has served some Indian to-go meals for years.