Chef Dave Hadley: Chopped Champ, Cannabis Pioneer & Story Behind the Samosa | Digging Deeper Ep. 1

Austin: So here's our thing with our school, if you are caught with cannabis, it's a 15-week suspension in our school. This is a high-end culinary school. I'm in a townhouse with seven friends. I think I'm cool because I take a small bong underneath the hood, kitchen hood, brand new townhouse. So I'm smoking my bong underneath it, it's going. The dean brings me up the next day and goes, Chef, you got two options here. You take it for the whole team, or ⁓ all seven of you get suspended. And I looked at him and was like. We are back with another episode of Digging Deeper with Dialed in Gummies. We are here with my good friend, Chef Dave Hadley. He's a two-time chop champion and a culinary force known for bold flavors, fearless creativity, and technical precision. After rising to national recognition on Food Network, Chef Dave built his reputation on blending discipline with innovation, constantly pushing the boundaries of what food can be. Today, he's making waves with his Indian American fusion pop-up concept. Reimagining the humble samosa as a vehicle for elevated flavor. His food tells a story of heritage, experimentation, and community. He's also become a trailblazer in the cannabis cuisine, helping shape Denver's infused dining movement by combining refined technique with the evolving world of cannabis. From competitive cooking stages to intimate community gatherings, Chef Dave builds connection through flavor. Today, we're digging deeper with Chef Dave. Chef, thanks for being on. What an introduction. Whoever whoever wrote that about me, man, ⁓ my gosh. ⁓ thank you for having me. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you for having me. So, Chef, let's talk. You know, you're not from Denver, correct? So let's talk about the roots. Where is Chef Dave from? What got you to Denver? What let's start there and then we'll get into the culinary side. Well, what brought me to Denver, I will say, is lying to my parents. About why I was coming. It was cannabis, right? Cannabis. I was ⁓ I grew up in New Jersey, ⁓ born and raised, and came out to Denver in 2013, Yep, tried it out, ⁓ went to Aspen, saw it, and realized that maybe for food, I was going to be at the time one of the first people to do cannabis and culinary because that was just something new. And yeah, especially back then. Especially back then. The men market was so different. And you know, we were just talking about all of our friends that were caregivers that that were growing cannabis for the dispensaries at the time. Right. And I got to see the early days of that where I was so confused, like, how is this actually happening? How is my friend that has 12 lights in their house just giving it to dispensaries? So I got to see that early. ⁓ and obviously, you know, lying to my parents, I was like, I'm gonna go to Aspen. I'm gonna be a chef at the Hotel Jerome, I'm gonna do my internship there. And at the same time, I was working for Silver Peak Apothecary and AMS at the time, which was back in the day, alternative medical solutions, like ⁓ my gosh, one of the coolest spots to be in in Aspen. And yeah, that's my upbringing, really. And then brought me to Denver. Okay. I think that's the coolest part about this is going a small little mountain town and then doing a cool little city. That's been the journey of how I got here. And I believe I I read somewhere that cooking with grandma is what kind of inspired the culinary journey that you ⁓ entered on. How let's talk about that. Like was it helping out in the kitchen and you just loved like watching or did she actually let you be hands on? Like I some grandmas are like, You're just gonna watch, I'm gonna do my thing. Luckily for for me, my grandma lived with me growing up all the way until I was about Fifteen. That's beautiful. ⁓ she was a huge influence on me just because she was the Indian matriarch of our family. The culture that brought me into who I was. Meanwhile, when I was a young kid, I was not about trying to be proud of who I was. And I think it's taken me through food in this journey to become what I am and who I am. Is it just tough growing up in New Jersey? Like not tough. Everybody, everybody is, you know, people are from. India, people from China, people from everywhere around the cultures. It's a cultural spot. Yeah, I think for me, I had friends growing up in a neighborhood that I didn't want to be recognized as just one type of person. Right. And I think I think like diving deep into my culture at that time was scary. My parents wanted me to, you know, learn some languages. They wanted me to obviously like the food. We had no TV when we had dinner. We only ate as a family. ⁓ there's six of us. So I mean, for me growing up culturally, it wasn't the same as my friends that got to go to their friends' house to do sleepovers. It wasn't them playing paintball on the outside. Like I had to like ask my parents to do those things, partly because of where they're from. But my grandma lived with me, my Amachee is what we called her. Okay. Amachee is the reason how I learned about Indian culinary food just growing up as a kid. She brought people in, had family dinners, had, you know, random friends from all around the country and ⁓ my gosh. She passed away like four or five years ago, and that's still been a huge thing for our family because obviously her her prevalence in in our in our lives. Of course. But for food, I kind of this is my ode to her. Like this has always been an ode to her as I grow up and work in Indian food and culture. ⁓ now doing these cool Indian weddings. Yeah, we were talking about that a little bit. I think that's the biggest thing, is this is an ode to her being able to represent the culture's That she came from. And the best part about now in my life is I'm jumping into my other grandma and my other grandparents, which is the St. Vincent Vincentian side, West Indies, more Caribbean-esque, and finally just researching that and jumping into that world. Because I think that's gonna shape me into who I am as a chef. ⁓ hence why I'm going to St. Lucia and St. Vincent next week. Is that right? Yes. I didn't know that. I know. I'm I'm You know, I it's it's one of those journeys where I'm like, as a chef, you can you have to travel. You have to do things that are outside. I've tr I've lived in Thailand for a year and a half, you know, like I've been to Spain, I've been India. Like luckily, I've been a lot of places, Japan. and I think for me, the only way to learn something is to travel, is to really get out of your own experience. Immerse yourself. Get in there. Yep. And luckily I'm able to take this journey where I'm scared. I'm the first one of my family that's been able to do it. In this generation. No one really talks to that outside family in St. Vincent, but this is the journey to find my dad, my family from my grandma's side, you know, like my great uncles that maybe shape the journey of where my blend of Indian and Saint Vincent flavors come from and finally determine who I am. Excellent, man. That's gonna be. I know. And that's next week. That's next Tuesday. How long are going for? ⁓ undetermined. Even better. Undetermined. Even better. Undetermined. I love that. I'm lucky I'm gonna see ⁓ one of our friends from ⁓ Spherex. I don't know if you're Matt Keyes. Yeah. He's a really close friend of mine. He's also someone that helped me start in the cannabis industry back at craft days. Okay. Where a lot of us were just small group of friends that then split into bigger companies. For me, I get to see them because they'll be there for a friend's ⁓ event. But I get to take my own journey to go to St. Vincent and really dive deep into the food. And hopefully come back with cool ideas to see what's next. I love that. I love that. You had mentioned being in Thailand. I think I I read and I'm probably gonna butcher this name, so I apologize. But you worked at this, it was a two star Michelin restaurant called Gagan. Is that how you say it? Or is that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about that. Cause I mean, not a lot of people get to go and work at that level of a restaurant, especially abroad. So I'm sure you learned a ton there and whether it was good or bad. No, that was one of the co that was one of the best periods of my life. I mean, 2017, I one-chopped. And ⁓ that was a huge part of my life because my parents had asked me, what are you gonna do with the money? It's not that much money, right? It's a nice little chunk. A nice little chunk, but it's to do something with it. And I think my parents forced that on me, saying, Don't just spend it on something that you're not gonna want to you're gonna throw away. And this experience for me is there's a show on TV called on Netflix called Chef's table. Yep. And I'm sitting there on Netflix and I start crying watching this episode. And I'm not understanding why I'm crying about watching this episode, but it's a chef. He's from Thailand. He's an Indian guy, big, goofy looking guy like me. And I ⁓ honestly, I look at him, I'm like, wait, that's like me. He says that his restaurant is the world of nations, like the world nations, United Nations, because everybody in the world comes there from Poland, Spain. ⁓ Italy. I've worked with people that are from Malaysia, Indonesia, India, all at the same restaurant. And I think that's helped develop the way that I communicate with people also. Yeah. ⁓ and then also, you know, me being the only American Indian kid going in there at the time was huge. They don't invite everybody to that spot. I would imagine so being an American Indian kid who was just on his journey at that time, 2017, trying to develop what he was, going to this. High end restaurant, which was number one in the world for the last three years in Asia, and then number five in the world. So they have a wow. They have a ranking. Wow. Like world's 50 best. And then like they end up becoming number five, but number one in Asia. So you're at a high level, you know, cooking for Vladimir Putin at the time and his group. Silent, you know, it's it's cool stuff that I got to do. Wow. And I think that shaped a lot of the mentality that I have on. the seriousness I take in food, but also how I approach things and live some life. Cause no one gets to do those things and I got to experience that. So but it's some of the best experience that teach you and develop you some skills and technical things that help me now just be able to have that in my back pocket. A hundred percent. I like I make burgers, man. Like I I cook burgers and fries and samosas, you know, like it it's turned into that and I think Gogan He he taught me something, he told me something that very serious that I I still have it like to this day. He says, Dave, you don't cook Indian food. It's okay that you don't cook Indian food. You need to cook ⁓ Indian American food. That's what you that's what you do. That's who you are. And that, you know, was hard for me to hear from him as an Indian chef, the guy who's world's 50 best. But that's okay. Because that coming from him was a huge jump for me to say, okay, there is a development of this. There can be something for that. And hence Somosa Shop. And let's talk about the Samosa shop. You know, so like where did where did it come from? Like when did you like light bulb moment? I'm gonna go out, start my own venture, and create this concept called the Somosa Shop. And it started at the farmers markets, right? Like you were doing pop-ups at events and then like it actually started COVID. COVID. Okay, so COVID was the start of Somosa Shop. I'm gonna tell you right now, real quick. There's a guy who was giving out kimchi to people's houses on Instagram. And I'm looking at this guy and I'm like, who is this guy? He's not of a chef. Like, how did he get so popular? How is he getting so much likes? This is COVID time. So everybody's stuck at their house. Everyone's stuck on social media. Huge popping off of what was going on. Absolutely. Obviously, it was cool for the industry too, because people were staying at home looking for cannabis, trying to enjoy themselves. There's a little extra money to be spent on some cannabis, too. AKA everybody was sitting at home getting some edibles and enjoying themselves. But for me, ⁓ COVID happened and I saw this guy doing kimchi. And I thought to myself, what is what do we not have in our community that is a vehicle that could get somebody to like what I like? And growing up, my mom would come back from the Indian store, put it into our put it in our little toaster oven, and that was our after school snack. So during COVID, there was these markets that were happening late at night, and we would just pop up our tents and just start setting up these tables. I had a one little fryer and I made like 60 Maybe sixty to start. The first event I did, I sold out in the literally five or six minutes because everybody just came right to me asking for a samosa. And that's when I knew I was like, okay, something is something is happening here. Yep. And that was the jump off 2020, maybe. Now that I've been doing it for six years. I mean, COVID happened then. So I think it's been a journey of learning from COVID and ⁓ licensing from the city and developing community. ⁓ jumping into small farmers markets and developing the City Park farmers market there. And I mean you have a line every Sunday and Saturday for your shop, bro. Yes. I like sometimes eight to ten to twenty people do. Sometimes people wait and I'm just I feel so bad sometimes. I don't like to wait either. Like I'm also a customer too. Like you clearly have a product that people are willing to wait for. Yes. I I'm lucky. I'm lucky that people see the idea and really for me. It's more generational than that. I mean, you know, you got kids now. So for me, you got a kid now. So for me, I want to see the generation above me or younger than me take this product that happens to be good for community into whatever they like it to be. And that's how I I realized that I had something, you know, it's for the kids, really. But for us, we're starting to get older. What if we liked those products too? We we had hot pockets, we had bagel bites. We had Tostinos pizza rolls. We had all of the high stoner snacks, but really, it was our childhood growing up. That's what our parents gave us when we got back home from school. Yep. So for me, it was also the blend of being with my friends from New Jersey, right? This goes back, it's full on like going back to my friends from my New Jersey group, coming to my friend's house and being, or my mom's house and being like, what is that? And I'm like, ⁓ it's just a samosa. And I put my head down being worried that they won't like it. Here we are, you know, 2026, and my friends are lining up for whatever flavor I do, whatever combination it could be, from chicken parmesan to jalapeno cheddar sausage to chopped cheese, right? To the the veggie OG, which is my classic, which is what everyone still says is my everyday the best. It's the Indian one, the most flavored, you know, garlic, ginger, curry leaf, mustard seed, all the things that people don't know about. And For me, it's cultural, you know. People really f travel for this thing and it's so weird. It's so weird that that's how it and you also do the drinks. What are they called? The ⁓ all the mangolasi. Yeah, ⁓ yeah. The mangolassi and ice chai. And I think that generation the it's for generation, it's for the kids. So mangol lassi to us, you know, we throw a little vodka or something in there and you explain to the people what mangolasi is, just for someone who may not have had that lassi such a it's a cooling drink that happens in India. It's yogurt. Ice, ⁓ some sort of sweetness, and mango. And it's just four ingredients. And usually some people put like rose water or something special in it, but or pistachio. For me, I just do it very plain, ⁓ very simple, clean, no brown sugar, no sugar added, it's just agave. And try to give something to people that they've either had before or they've never had. And like I said, generationally, it's these kids that love this mango lassi. And now all of a sudden, mom and dad, aka ⁓ Our group age group now is like, okay, I guess that's what we're that's what we're getting. Mangalasi. And then you do those seasonal peach ones when the peach palisades are in seasons. ⁓ you know about that. You know about that. I remember that. I don't even talk much about that, but the seasonality for me, you know, like seasonality is so important. And the way that things change and flavors change, that has to do with the food that I create. And I think that also has to do with cannabis. And I think that's why I'm so connected to both worlds. I think just the idea of change and seasonality and growing and then being able to flavor profiles and terpene hunting and you know strain it it's so close to food that I think the match of and the mix of both is the reason why I fell in love with both and why I'm so connected to this world of cannabis and food. Well let's talk about that. Let's come back to samosas in a second. You know you've definitely led the charge of combining Culinary expertise with cannabis and doing infused dinners and like being able to pair terpenes of strains to different flavor profiles of food and being able to give that experience to the consumer base that's out there. And, you know, I've been to a number of different infused dinners, right? And the ones that I've seen you put out, which I haven't got a chance to try yet, but I'm looking forward to that day. The level sophistication that you bring with your flavor profiles. And I just I would love to hear more about what your thought process is and like how important that was to you to combine the two worlds that sound like they mean a lot to you, which is culinary and cannabis. You know, first and foremost, like I am a cannabis user. Mm-hmm. I think that's what's lost sometimes is as a chef, as somebody that is, you know, marketable As there's an idea of restaurant or food or service or hospitality, you don't know where you came from. For me, it was smoking weed. It was really like enjoying cannabis and lying to my parents that I was going to Aspen and getting in trouble with from college, like the days that I told you I got suspended from my college for 'cause I took the hit for all my friends in school. You know, it's I don't know. Did we talk about that? We didn't even talk about we need to get back to We need to get to that to tell you why this is a whole huge thing about my story. Yes. But ⁓ You know, for food and the way that I see pairing, I'm a cannabis smoker. I'm a I'm also like somebody that uses, you know, hash and rosin. And and I think if you're not a part of that and you just see it from just an outward perspective, you're gonna just say, Lemon goes with limanine. You're gonna just say this is grassy. Okay, let's make something that's green. Yeah. And I think for me, taking The growth into ⁓ learning the cultivator, like building the relationship with these people that are growing it and then making the product and then actually understanding their process. It's the same way that I would do what a dish that I'd put out, you know, blending what they have and what I do, that's hand in hand. Yeah. And I take it a little bit more serious as taking the product, enjoying it, taking notes, taking a flavor, taking a the flavor Bible is what we call that. We have a flavor Bible. There's a book. It's really awesome if you guys have to look at something that you're like, hey, apples go with this. But I think what happens is ⁓ you know, as chefs, we try to develop easy, clean bites that people can remember something that they've had in their childhood or nostalgic. That's what I like to do. Or we go two routes. We go that route or we go something that no one's ever had and something that's different. And I think with cannabis, it's the same thing. There's both flavor profiles and terpenes that You'd never had and strains that we've never had before, and things that cultivators are looking for. And then there's fruits and vegetables that you've never heard of that are pickled in a different ⁓ liquid. That you're like, How did this kolrabi turn into Daikon radish? They're two different things, but they taste the same. And I think it takes the seriousness of that. And it takes working with people like as you do that take that to a different level of, hey, we are doing the we are the best at what we do, and we try to. Do the best at that. We're not trying to do seven different, eight different things. ⁓ I, you know, in the beginning when I was working with cannabis industry, I was out there trying to create dishes with whatever product I got and try to put something with it. Now I think it's turned into how do I just teach people how to do that? You know, like I don't need to do that. I want to teach people how to do it for themselves because anybody can do it. Anybody really can do it. Technique-wise, sure. That's where I come in. ⁓ a service, hospitality, the the curation of a an event. Sure, that's my take. But I want everyone to do it. You know, Ratatouille is one of those good movies that was like everyone can cook, you know? And like I always say that it's like anybody could cook if they want to. It just takes a couple of times and tries, not burning some garlic and onions a couple times, you know? I think we need to bring back that thing we did a couple years ago where we sh showed you or sorry, where we had you on showing people How they can use cannabis to cook dishes at their home. And I think you made, if I remember correctly, this like unbelievable watermelon salad using w the rosin drops for the vinaigrette for the salad itself. Yeah. If you do you remember that? Yeah, man, it was with Andy's with Andy Frasco, I think. At his house. Yeah, yeah. At his house. At his house. I think those are the things that, you know, as we get back into, I feel like that that has was gone and now people don't see it as a new take. And I used to do that with like Lightshade and I used to do that with a lot of companies and brands to to kind of push that. Not that it hasn't gone away. I think now it's more prevalent that people can do it and people can utilize products that my mom can use. Honestly, it goes back to like my mom. My mom is a huge lover of this. So all of a sudden, guess what gummies we get when she's coming out to, you know, Denver? You know, like guess what Rosin we're getting? It's it's one of those things. Luckily, I get to Have that connection with my mom. Cause before that wasn't the case when it comes to cannabis. Isn't that awesome to have now? Now she's ⁓ awesome. Now she has her friends that are asking her, hey, you're going days. Right. You got any gummies for me? I'm like, okay, this is cool. And now it's taking some time for them to see. And luckily, people have created, you guys especially have created product that everyone likes. Everybody likes. Thank you, man. Thank you. Everyone, everybody likes it. It's something that, you know, as a chef, I always say to myself, Dave, we want to work with companies like yourself to then build what else can be next. What what flavor profiles can we jump into? What things work better? What techniques of reusing, you know, I just saw another company using real fruit now. That's taken us so long to finally get to that point of using real fruit because of cost. ⁓ and it goes into the business side that I love talking about sometimes because that's how I think, where I'm like, We need to learn how to use product development, but also use the people around us on ideas that can help cost efficiency, but also cool new ideas. Yeah, absolutely. Luckily I get to, you know, hang out with you guys a lot. So it works out. And I think that's the next that's the next jump for me. That's always been a jump for me, is having an idea in cannabis, but also just being a lovely consumer and enjoying a product that I like. Well, I appreciate your support of the gummies, man. Always now. I would love to talk about that story in college, but before we get to how you got in trouble, one thing I always love to ask people when they come on is how did cannabis come into your life? You know, like what was your first time consuming cannabis like? Can you tell that story? We all have a unique story usually of like our first time getting high, our first time smoking. How was it introduced to you? All the things. I remember it very vivid. Yeah. So color core memory. Iron lines iron. Bob Marley sitting at Rehoboth Beach on a lifeguard stand with six of my friends. So three of us at the bottom and three of us on top of the lifeguard stand trying to just roll up some weed that we had from I don't know, we were in high school. It was our family group trip. And I remember that moment. And for me, that was how cannabis got there. I was at a beach with a bunch of my friends on a family trip. God, I wish my first time smoking weed was on a beach. That is not the case. That's what it was. It was Iron Line Zion. With a little speaker or whatever we had at the time, like it's probably a phone in a phone. A phone or not even a phone. Like 'cause I'm thinking we had a razor. We had like the Motorola razor type. You're right, like in like little MP3 player or something. We had. But whatever my friend Justin had at the time. Justin, shout out to you because I know you're gonna watch this. He's the reason why we started how I got into cannabis. And how old were you? I was thirteen years old. Thirteen. I was thirteen years old. I was fourteen years old when I started actually getting my parents mad at me because I had a fire escape to the root I had a fire escape to the window of my house. To your room. To my room. To your room. ⁓ it's dangerous. I was that kid that would sneak out to go to Ruckers parties in you know, freshman year of my high school, going to college parties or growing up five. I was dude, I was but I was friends with always people that were older than me. Cause I'm the youngest. I'm the youngest in my group. Okay. I'm the baby of my group. I was like one of those kids that like ⁓ didn't skip grade, but like moved when I moved from Jersey City to another town. I like moved in with a smaller, like an older group. Okay. I was the youngest kid. So I always thought my friends were older than me. So I always told my parents, I'm like, man, I'm hanging out over there. That's how it all started. Hence the college getting in trouble. Let's hear about that now. Seven guys in a townhouse. Okay. I'm the one that comes back from Colorado. I got my weed car. Don't worry. My red. Back from ASP in the days, okay. 2014. I'm 18 at the time or some right at the time where I got to sign, right? Right at the med age. I come back, I think I'm hot shit. I walk back with all my stuff. I got a bong, I got bags. I'm like in New York going back to my junior year, basically my senior year of college, about to finish. Actually, it's my junior year. I'm playing basketball at the time. I'm about to be the captain of this team. Not crazy, okay? D3 basketball ain't anything crazy, but it's fun. We get to travel, Pratt Institute, all these cool places. Anyway, I play for the colony team. Junior year comes, I'm in a townhouse with seven friends. I'm going, and all of a sudden, I think I'm cool because I take a small bong underneath the hood, kitchen hood, and it's a great hood. Brand new townhouse. So I'm smoking my bong underneath it. It's going. All of a sudden, one of my friends, one of my roommates, come in, which I didn't know. It's with a T A. It's one of the RA, one of those like one of the RAs. And I didn't know it was an RA. They're just walking in, just acting like everything is fine. And they just see me. I didn't know he's an RA at the time. So I'm just like, what's up, man? They know it's me. They know I'm the ca I'm about to be captain of this basketball team. So they don't say anything. They don't say shit to me that day. They don't like, none of my friends say anything. I go to my friend's house. I'm in a place. I'm about to take mushrooms or something. All of a sudden I get a call, Dave. You need to come back right now. I'm like, what are you talking about? The RA, the security, the dean, everybody is inside of our townhouse right now and they need you. And I'm like, I'm not home. I'm not there. I'm not going back. Because I know, I know that what I have is some weed, some bong, you know, papers. So here's our thing with our school, if you are caught with that, it's a 15 week suspension in our school and you get demerits in our school. This is a high-end culinary school, like, high. You you this is back in the day. Now it's a little slap on the wrist, I'm sure. Right. But back in the day, you were getting demerits. You were getting a 15-week suspension without getting your money back. So my parents were putting up that 15 weeks while I was at home sitting there. So that all happened. Okay. The craziest thing is all seven of us in our team, in our group, had a couple things inside of their room. So everybody was supposed to get suspended. The dean brings me up the next day and goes, Chef, chef, talk to the chef. He goes, you know, really, really disappointed. You know, you know, you're the basketball of varsity, you know, you're the team captain. You got two options here. You take it for the whole team, or ⁓ all eight of all seven of you get suspended. And I looked at him and was like, Okay, my dad's pissed off at me. Why? Because I call him the next day and I'm like, Dad, I'm suspended. He's like, for what? I said, I took the hit for all seven of the guys. They all stayed and got an extra 15 weeks to pass. I'm getting suspended. Here we are, 2026, Institute of America. You've called me now twice trying to do a talk with you, talking about cannabis and food. It's changed. And I think that is the prevalent story of how the times have changed. That is why we've all kind of moved up. ⁓ My my parents have obviously seen how intense cannabis was for me growing up, being in that involved. And then here we are. Right now, I think moving forward with also cannabis being a part of my my journey, but not defining who I am. Yeah. That doesn't define me jumping into the James Beard Award conversation, jumping into better shows that are happening for me on TV. I try to like be someone that uses and contains with cannabis and has a f a part of it. But that doesn't define who I am. Yeah, I love that. I love that. So going back to Somosas and going back to, you know, the farmers markets, you were wildly successful. You were doing these pop-ups like every weekend. And then some point you had gotten an opportunity to open up Somosa shop in it was a bar downtown, correct? And that was going, you know, I think you had been doing that for about a year or two. Talk to me about, you know. making that leap, what were some of the trials and tribulations go from, you know, pop up to brick and mortar. And, you know, what were some of the things that you loved about it? And I know that you're in the process of, we'll talk about that in a second, the next opportunity from, you know, it's all ⁓ what would you call it? Opportunity jumps, right? And so like, how was that owning your own, like literally restaurant inside of a business? ⁓ first thing is say it this is scary. Owning anything, being a part of something that you love, it is the first thing is scare and fear. Yep. Why? Because you don't want to disappoint, you feel like there's a lot on the line, you put a lot of pressure on yourself. ⁓ fear, fear is huge. And I think just before I even say anything, my advice to people to do things is to just do it. Yeah. Try it. If it doesn't work, at least you tried. Yeah, absolutely. Right. And I think for me, doing something that I'm scared of that I already thought I had under control, which was the farmers markets and killing it and doing it just weekends and doing pop-ups to now moving forward and opening my own opportunity and having pressure on what people would think about finally having my open doors with the kitchen with Samos shop being a part of it. Yep. Pressure. ⁓ but it was awesome. It was a great experience. It's something that I can never Take back. I can only say that it's just gonna move me forward. The ups and downs. I've had fires, I've had floods, I've had things in my bar that when it comes to infrastructure and foundation of a building and all these things that I don't I never as a chef that I care about food and how the cabbage is cooked or the way that a pickled onion is pickled. Like I'm worried about foundation of a building or ⁓ infrastructure of my of my systems that are working or when I'm not there, who's taking care of the place. ⁓ how many employees do I have? ⁓ those things are scary. They are scary. But what they do is they force you to kind of learn something that you never would. And that's what's given me the opportunity, I think, to develop and having that confidence for myself that I can do it. Yeah. Absolutely. And I and I didn't know that I could. Sure. Being in someone else's, you know, bar, which was really awesome. The drinks were basically made some most of the drinks upstairs at the at the T bar were made by me for the first, you know, year and a half because like the concepts or physically making them? Not physically making them, but the concepts I got to learn also part of me as a chef was to always learn what it was like working in the back of the I mean the front of the house in the in the bar. Yeah. In the well. Because that's a whole nother journey. You know, having really good bartenders or people that do mixology with with drinks or whatever. you know, process or whatever, you know, product that you can do, which we do mocktails that have, you know, cannabis in there. But I think for me, learning that journey and then saying that I can do both and being able to develop flavor profiles and drinks and cocktails that I never got to do, that was why I went to that bar. Okay. That's why I jumped in with them at Heller High. And they have a really good reputation for being one of the best cocktail bars, you know, tiki bars in the country. So being with them Really jumped for me, kind of helped each other. That was that was what with our goal was to help each other really ⁓ elevate. And I think that's what it did. It helped both me elevate those things, learn some systems, build a place, build some structure, some infrastructure. And then what I tell people, like the pop-up didn't become a pop-up anymore. I was there every day for like the first year by myself. And then got hurt, you know, had injuries, did all this stuff, went on vacation. But it for the first year, I was there every day. And you're able to develop some new menu items. Like it went from just samosas to the Lamburgers and you're doing different concepts behind the samosas. So, like, you know, and I know right now you're you're no longer there, but let's talk about the next, if you can, the next chapter of that journey, because you've got something pretty cool happening, right? I feel like all of the menu items that I've had in my life or the people that you are in Denver and you've eaten for me, they're all representations of. The last years of my whole career. And they end up becoming and develop something. So that's gonna continue. As I make new menu items, it's gonna be just a a journey of what I've gone through. And for me, the next journey is taking some most shop into a new location that's my own number one, but also being able to develop new culinary ideas for people in the city that they're also trying to develop their own bars. So, you know, being a part of a bar now that's now my own ownership of a bar. Is bigger than what I used to have, just having my own little pop-up inside of somebody's bar. Of course. Now I'm gonna have my own bar with my own development of food. Maybe not Samosa Shop, because Samoshop divert d deserves its own something. I I think I've always said that it div deserves its own thing. But you know, the idea that I get to develop multiple ⁓ concepts at the same time. I'm doing, you know, I'm I got three on the on the docket. It's kind of cool to be able to just journey into Like I said, the reason why I travel, it's to develop and learn and really dive deep into something that you never did before and then take it to teach somebody. Absolutely. And that's what I'm gonna get to do. ⁓ I'm opening a bar on the tw on 27th in Laramer in Rhino, right downtown. Right in Rhino. Love it. Home hometown for me. So that's like huge. I finally have my my friends can all go there. Like all the people in the neighborhood, it's close and it's Really a representation of my where I grew up because that's how I started. 2013 was in Rhino. So for those that are listening in Denver area, is there a timeline of like when that potentially will be Yeah, May. May. Yeah. We're trying to start, we're trying to open in May. We're already at the point of ⁓ you know, the the building is already done. Licensing is there. There's a lot of process, but a lot of work that goes in, and people are like, I I'm impatient. That's one of my big biggest things. I'm impatient. Might be the East Coast and you're right. I think I'm impatient. I need it now. Like, let's do it now. I will do it now. And I think the bar is a long term process. Obviously, for me, kitchen wise, I want to take that seriously because this is my baby, another baby of mine. But Somoza Shop will always be a thing. I mean, I think farmers markets is still in the play for me this year. Maybe one on Sundays. So it I kind of make it exclusive on Sundays that Somoza Shop will be there. But there's plans for that to develop into its own thing. And then right now I've been really jumping into ⁓ destination weddings. So I've been traveling a lot. I've been doing something that hits close to my culture. You know, I'm from the south of India. South of India, we don't really do big crazy weddings. North Indians, they love their crazy Indian weddings. ⁓ four-day parties. Extravagant dance parties, they bring in the choreographer from New York, fly them into Mexico. Like, I'm telling you, it's a it's a production. But I'm learning to now take what I've gotten and take that Indian American side. And then there's now couples that are like, yo, we want that at our wedding, but we want you to do the whole wedding. And now our parents need to get involved to like you. So can you cook regular Indian food? That's kind of been the development of Doing these tastings, but also now doing it in Mexico, in Greece, in Italy, in trying to go international with these ideas and then travel and put on these productions. It's unbelievable. It's so crazy. It's one of the coolest things I've been a apart to do. And now as I jump into it now, I take it more serious. ⁓ I think that's gonna be ⁓ I t I think I told you on the phone, like that's how I wanna be a provider, that's how I wanna start a family, that's how I wanna be able to do the things that as I get older. Couldn't be doing when I was 20 anymore. So that helps me evolution. You know, that helps me, you know, build something. And the last thing that I think, you know, that I've really always wanted, and it's still in the works because it's real estate in Denver. Real estate is hard. Okay. ⁓ yeah. It's expensive. It's ⁓ yeah. People are, it's hard. They don't want a local guy to win sometimes. Okay. They don't want to, they I'm not even local. I'm a Jersey guy, but they don't want a Denver, a guy that's been here to see the chain. I don't know why. But I think that's gonna change. ⁓ that there is big movement in that. For me at least. It's I've been blessed that I finally have that movement. But I've always wanted to open a fine dining Indian concept, but not Indian only. It's that hip-hop biggie Tupac music that you're listening to, but you happen to have cool hip Indian food that's next to you, that's beautiful and presentable on nice plates, and make me be able to communicate that version of what Samos Shop is to most people and for the everyday to Your date nights and your wine pairings and your cocktails that are high end. That's the next real journey for the development and evolution. It might be five years from now, but that journey started in 2017. And I'm not saying that it won't get there, but at least there's been little hoops and jumps to kind of get to that point. And it's getting closer than I thought. Unbelievable, man. So I'm lucky. I'm blessed. I'm blessed. Did we have a name for the bar? I don't know if I'm supposed to say it. But I will say this. I will say this. It's Korean and Mexican food. Whoa. Korean Mexican fusion. ⁓ man. That's what that is. So I've been doing a lot of since I, you know, I travel to Mexico probably every month now at this point for all these weddings, which is awesome. And different parts of Mexico, I just got stuck for that whole thing, which is crazy, by the way. Really? ⁓ I think that's that's the next evolution for me, is to now take what I've learned from other countries and you know. being pretty good in Spanish and all that to like work with people that are I want to find a kid that's really developed in the Korean culinary field that's out here maybe that wants to see his food shine like just like I was and then he's like yo I have like these ideas maybe your ideas work together. That's how you build a team. That's how I need to take away the ego of Chef Dave Hadley. ⁓ it's not about me anymore. It's like I can only help these kids I can only help people develop their own sense because I've gotten to do that through help from you, help from, you know, my guys from Soiku, help from the guys from all my chefs that I've had in the past. You know, like it's it's the world of both helping each other. And I think that's what I've I'm able to do now, being a a manager or ⁓ owner of a concept and developing these kids. So we've got your own concept coming out in May, Smotia Shop pop-ups on Sundays or Saturdays, farmers market. And then sounds like we've got a lot of other things coming down the pipeline for you in the l in the next couple of years. So for everyone that's coming to Denver that wants to check you out, like where's the best place to send them so they can look up, you know, is it Instagram? Is it a website? Like follow me on so follow me on Samoa's shop co. That will stay forever. I mean, I do pop ups all around town. Every week right now I'm on Tuesdays at a farmer's market ⁓ indoors, which is really nice. ⁓ and that will go through the That will go through at least the summer through May. But then during summertime, Sundays or Saturdays are usually it. And then I do private events. I do private dinners. I'm always down. If you guys are here with your Airbnb, you're visiting, you know, you guys are visiting in Denver and you're like, hey, I want to have an experience with me. Always reach out at my chef Dave Hadley page or ⁓ And could that private dinner be cannabis infused? Yes, for a lot of people that come in. That is that is what the cool part about it is I'll either be cannabis infused or I will pair the dinner with products that I would be able to provide for you. ⁓ you know, any type of product from pen to a pre-roll joint to ⁓ a gummy pack, kind of developing the idea of pairing. So food can just be regular food. And if your friends aren't into the cannabis thing and they don't want to partake. I could give them that option. I think that's the other thing that we that's you know, we don't talk about either all the time. It's like it doesn't have to be a cannabis-infused dinner all the time. No, no, no, no. It could be, you know, you choosing what product you use to pair with that and you determine how much you use, how little it is. Because as we know, and as I've told you before, I think my goal in Denver is to develop something. Like we have our hospitality licenses here. We have Tetra. Thank God for Tetra. Thank God for all of these places that. Of allow us to go inside and consume legally. And I think for us legal legally for the bar scene and and food scene, we have a tip certification, right? We have out we have servers that learn how to serve people or not overserve. There needs to be something for people that are serving this chefs, for people that are part of the hospitality environment to take in certifications that teach people how to. Mitigate those things. Somebody needs water. You there's signs. Somebody hasn't ever taken cannabis before. There's small amounts, 2.5 milligrams, 1.5, whatever it may be. There's gotta be something that we, if we're gonna get really technical and really down and dirty and deep into what we are doing with the MED and all that, we should have something. And I think luckily I'm a part of that, which the city has offered multiple times, to really develop something that helps. the hospitality environment in Denver grow. And that's just taking things seriously when people or tourism comes in. It's not your everyday friends that know how to smoke. It's your random ass person that comes in and doesn't know how to consume. A hundred percent. And that's kind of where I want to go in the next route when it comes to the hospitality scene in Denver. Looks like we've got some samosas right here. ⁓ I would love to have one if we could. I you know I couldn't show up and bring the team. I go man, I couldn't bring the team. I couldn't bring you Couldn't not show up without I miss these things. We don't have samosas in Cincinnati, Ohio. That's that's the most important thing. It's a vehicle for anything. we have a jalapeno cheddar sausage inside. ⁓ and then this is our Zamosa sauce. So this is our fresh dill ⁓ secret sauce that we do for our burger. I'm not gonna tell you what's in it, but basically fresh dill is in there. Yeah. ⁓ it's something that for me, I get to share it with my friends, and it's so Easy, but it just thinks about the times that, like I said, it makes me think about my younger days. And ⁓ yeah, man, I'd hand me that. Let's really see that thing. Get in, get in, dip a little bit, get in there. Team, you guys need to get some too. All of you, all of you. You hear the crunch? I just wanted you to hear the crunch. Okay, so never think hot pocket, hot pocket mixed with empanada, mixed with goodness. I Most samosas, when you go get it somewhere else, I mean they are gonna concentrate on a dough that's doughy and crunchy and the filling sucks. Me, I do opposite. I think about what's inside. I think about like that pocket, and then I think about how many people can eat. Most samosas like little tiny squares, like just potato on the inside. Potato is the base. So every samosa, there's potato, the base. Mm-hmm. Now I do a smore samosa. That's not potato. It is not. That is not potato. But ⁓ there's There's certain things that create a base to hold all of the stuff together. And then, you know, I'll be honest with you. I don't fold all these 3,000 every single week, 2000 every week. Everyone tells me, like, Dave, you do 2,000 every week. I'm like, I my good days, we used to do like 5,000. But at this point, I don't have, I can't fold them all. I have a team that does that. Okay. There's a team of You gotta delegate the folding. There's a beautiful team of ladies that do it, that are Burmese ladies that take care of me. That are part of my squad that sold these for me. ⁓ the wrapper is special because I'm not gonna tell you what it is because we make it ourselves. ⁓ very specific to the cultures, right? Burmese, India, African, South Africa. every country has its own fried product. And we just do it like this. I think the Indians do it a little different, but now you gotta mix with me in, you know. That's unbelievable. You know, it's good, right? You guys, you guys gotta get in. I'm not eating I eat so many samosas. That's why you got this gut and I'm about to go to you. Can't do that. Can't do that. I like double, triple, quadruple dip on That was unbelievable. There's so many. I'm glad you like the sauce was very complimentary to that sausage and that jalapeno that was inside. So one thing that we like to ask our guests, I'm really curious your answer on being a chef. If you could create any flavor for a dialed in gummy. What would it be? ⁓ my gosh. You know, I will say something because we just talked about this. That mango lassie. Yeah, and the mango in there. Either the mango lassie with the tahine. Mm-hmm. ⁓ you like tahine like a little tahine thing on top for its spice. I don't know. I know that you your gummy's so good that you can't do like the the topper, because that's what makes it so special is that texture. But I will say mango lassie or there's this, there's this, okay. There's this fruit in Mexico. It's the cactus plant. They call it atun. Not tuna, atun. Okay. And or tune. And it's basically a pink cactus fruit that when you juice it, it tastes so beautifully like tart. So I'd mix that with pineapple juice together. Ooh. And that would be my flavor. Okay. Very tropical. Very tropical. But also that's where, you know, as I say, I think it's cool that. People are trying that stuff and really using real fruit and using real flavoring that's not just commercialized. It's just something that's different that I think takes that next step. My man. You know? My man. We'll have to work on developing something like that. Mangolasi. Mangolasi gummies. Or the the attuned pineapple. Well, it sounds like you've got a lot coming up in the next couple of years. And again, Samosa Shop Co. is where you can find Dave on Instagram. Reach out to him if you're ever in town. He's one of the friendliest, nicest guys that I know and happens to also cook amazing food. Dave, thank you so much for coming on today. Dude, so telling us about everything about Chef Dave Hadley and all the things that are coming. I really appreciate it, man. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, guys.