{"id":2340041,"date":"2026-03-21T15:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2340041"},"modified":"2026-03-21T15:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:22:08","slug":"celebrity-chef-maneet-chauhan-wows-foodies-in-fort-myers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/celebrity-chef-maneet-chauhan-wows-foodies-in-fort-myers\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan wows foodies in Fort Myers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Special to the Daily News<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Southwest Florida\u00a0foodies<\/a> and fans of celebrity chef\u00a0Maneet\u00a0Chauhan were buzzing about her recent visit to\u00a0St. Charles Yacht Club in Fort Myers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

She collaborated with\u00a0St. Charles executive chef and general manager Justin Fleming\u00a0to create\u00a0a four-course dinner\u00a0to\u00a0accompany\u00a0her\u00a0lively cooking\u00a0demonstration Feb. 22.<\/p>\n

Chauhan\u00a0was born in India and graduated with high honors from The Culinary Institute of America before gaining\u00a0worldwide\u00a0fame on\u00a0the\u00a0Food Network.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

‘More to Indian food than curry’<\/h2>\n

She\u00a0won the\u00a0Tournament of Champions twice, has appeared on “Guy\u2019s Grocery Games,” “The Next Iron Chef” and is a judge on “Chopped<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n

When\u00a0designing\u00a0a\u00a0menu\u00a0for her Southwest Florida\u00a0dinner\u00a0Chauhan\u00a0said,\u00a0\u201cI wanted\u00a0to show people there is more to Indian food than curry.\u201d\u00a0She also\u00a0wanted to\u00a0incorporate\u00a0local ingredients like crab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For her Malabar Coconut Crab Cake,\u00a0Chauhan\u00a0commanded the stage sharing her technique\u00a0and\u00a0giving\u00a0tips\u00a0for cooking and seasoning. At the same time,\u00a0the kitchen staff was\u00a0hustling\u00a0to\u00a0cook and plate\u00a0the\u00a0crab cakes\u00a0for a seamless presentation.\u00a0Guests enjoyed two\u00a0generous cakes,\u00a0served with savory\u00a0panch\u00a0phoran\u00a0tomato\u00a0chutney\u00a0and\u00a0mango curry leaf slaw.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Another delectable\u00a0example\u00a0of the\u00a0Chauhan\/Fleming\u00a0collaboration\u00a0was\u00a0Vindallo\u00a0Braised Short Rib. Beef is typically not found on the menu of an Indian restaurant but\u00a0has\u00a0always figured prominently at St. Charles, a\u00a0members-only club that often has such culinary\u00a0events open\u00a0to the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Underneath the slow cooked meat was\u00a0semolina\u00a0grits seasoned with turmeric. The dish was topped with\u00a0red cabbage pomegranate chow\u00a0chow\u00a0for layers of flavors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

More than just a dinner<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

A lighter dish in the line-up was\u00a0Naanzanella\u00a0Grilled Corn Chaat Salad, a riff on the Italian classic Panzanella, a Tuscan-style tomato and bread salad.\u00a0Chauhan\u00a0replaced the toasted bread with toasted naan and\u00a0instead of just\u00a0tomatoes, she added\u00a0with golden beets, cucumbers,\u00a0mint, mango chutney and\u00a0yogurt-based\u00a0sauce.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

The evening was more\u00a0than a\u00a0dinner\u00a0it was\u00a0a show.\u00a0Chauhan\u00a0interacted with the crowd, entertained them\u00a0with her colorful stories and commentary. She exuded passion for cooking and connection, taking time to visit every table and talk to every person.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fleming said that was his favorite part of the night. \u201cThe food was\u00a0amazing\u00a0and the cooking together was cool, but watching her\u00a0vibe and\u00a0interact with people was\u00a0bigger than I could ever have imagined,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chauhan\u00a0had the same enthusiasm working with the kitchen staff. Serious about getting flavors and textures\u00a0just right, she still\u00a0beamed with\u00a0joy, laughing, dancing when the sauces\u00a0and plates came together.<\/p>\n\n

You could\u00a0taste that joy in her food\u00a0too.\u00a0And that, she says\u00a0was\u00a0her mission,\u00a0\u201cI want people to leave happy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

By all accounts they\u00a0did.\u00a0Chauhan\u00a0has an eponymous restaurant at Disney Springs.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0fast casual and a good introduction to Indian food if\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0a newbie to the cuisine.<\/p>\n

This was her first time in Southwest Florida and\u00a0to the delight of her old and new fans, she says it\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be her last.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.news-press.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special to the Daily News Southwest Florida\u00a0foodies and fans of celebrity chef\u00a0Maneet\u00a0Chauhan were buzzing about her recent visit to\u00a0St. Charles Yacht Club in Fort Myers.\u00a0 She collaborated with\u00a0St. Charles executive chef and general manager Justin Fleming\u00a0to create\u00a0a four-course dinner\u00a0to\u00a0accompany\u00a0her\u00a0lively cooking\u00a0demonstration Feb. 22. Chauhan\u00a0was born in India and graduated with high honors from The Culinary Institute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2340042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[39915,30218,22220,21751,239390,320216,395259,351915,345958,399931,453455,26055,6297,284334,21741,22118,453456,51971,341554,429684,21739,298114,298790,21738,239343,239347,23759,315277,23170,23152,284335,344533,23856,239344],"class_list":["post-2340041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-affiliate","tag-ai","tag-arts","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","tag-cooking","tag-cooking-u0026-recipes","tag-cuisine","tag-cuisines","tag-culinary","tag-culinary-training","tag-dining","tag-eamotion","tag-enabled","tag-entertainment","tag-food","tag-food-u0026-dining-swfl","tag-highlights","tag-indian","tag-indian-cuisine","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-local-affiliate-food","tag-news","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-positive","tag-recipes","tag-restaurants","tag-story","tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-swfl","tag-training","tag-u0026"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Celebrity-chef-Maneet-Chauhan-wows-foodies-in-Fort-Myers.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2340041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2340043,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340041\/revisions\/2340043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2340042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2340041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2340041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2340041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}