Dave Hadley
Samosa Shop | Denver
july 2022
Dave Hadley learned to cook with his grandmother, who shared her family recipes and techniques from India. After finishing high school in New Jersey, he attended the Culinary Institute of America, spending a summer in Aspen, Colorado for an internship at Six89. Hadley moved to Denver where he started on the line at Acorn, then staged at ChoLon, before settling in at the South Indian fast-casual concept, Biju’s Little Curry Shop. After several years, Hadley moved on to become sous chef at the New American eatery, The Preservery, while simultaneously creating a cannabis brand called Craft Concentrates.
When Hadley won the cooking competition show Chopped, he used his $10,000 winnings to travel to Bangkok, Thailand, where he cooked at Michelin-starred restaurants Gaggan and Nahm. On a vacation to his family’s home of Kerala, India, Hadley became inspired by the street food, especially the samosas. He returned to Denver and took on the role of culinary director for Stone Soup Collective restaurant group, but when the COVID-19 pandemic left him furloughed, Hadley decided to strike out on his own. He began popping up on the streets—sometimes at farmers markets, sometimes out of nowhere—to sell Indian-inspired snacks under the name Samosa Shop. In addition to selling both classic and globally-inflected samosa flavors (think birria and chicken pot pie), he also serves more composed dishes, tossing enormous bowls of bhel puri and grilling skewers of chicken vindaloo. Now in the process of packaging products for grocery and delivery, Hadley is on a mission to share his samosas with the masses.
