Popular Indian Pop-Up Samosa Shop Now Has a Permanent Home Downtown

"This is a big stepping stone for me, and a long time coming," says chef Dave Hadley, whose Samosa Shop pop-up now has a permanent home inside Honor Farm, a bar located at 1526 Blake Street that embraces the building's haunted history with a ghoulish theme. It will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, December 16.

"It might be a little bar kitchen in an old haunted place, but the food is made with love, and hopefully, it will excite the city," says Hadley, who is originally from New Jersey and learned traditional Indian cooking techniques from his grandmother. His culinary career has included stints in Aspen, Thailand and Denver, and he's a two-time champion on the Food Network's Chopped. He's also working to make special events permits for cannabis and food pop-ups a possibility in Colorado.

He launched Samosa Shop in September 2020 and has been popping up at various farmers' markets ever since, gaining a following for his modern spin on Indian classics, including creative samosas. "The last year and a half has been a journey of continuing to build the brand at farmers' markets, but also trying to find a home," Hadley notes.
When an opportunity to move into American Bonded fell through after that bar was sold, "I almost gave up hope," he admits, but friends and fans encouraged him to keep going. He continued to serve at markets this summer and landed a consulting gig that took him to Mexico. Now, though, he's excited for Samosa Shop's next chapter. "I want to bring late-night food back to Denver that's consistent," he says of the move into Honor Farm.

"This is an accumulation of all the things I've learned over my career," he adds, "and I'm really excited to bring it to the Denver food scene, and also to have a space where I'm consistent and people can find me now. I can finally put my name in the hat."

The bar, which brings in crowds for events like drag shows and stays open until midnight or later every day (except on Mondays, when it is closed), will also give him exposure to a new clientele — though he wants to make sure that the families he's served at the farmers' markets can still enjoy his food, too.
Hadley is planning to close Samosa Shop for the first two weeks in January. When it returns, it and Honor Farm will launch family hours from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 5 to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, during which kids will be welcome. "We'll change all the televisions to cartoons," he says. "I really believe in the family and the growth of generations."

As for what he'll serve at Honor Farm, "I've been working on a lot of stuff to create this street food menu," Hadley notes. That includes samosas, of course, including the OG with potatoes, peas and dried fruit, a s'more samosa and a rotating weekly samosa special.

The menu also includes options like the walking taco-style Magic Masala Pie; a Kerala fried chicken sandwich; a smashburger made with lamb; mushroom nuggets made with Lion's Mane mushrooms from a local grower; vindaloo chicken birria tacos; and chicken tenders with a variety of sauce options such as garam masala barbecue and Frank's Kasmiri Chili.
There's also an Indian spin on Disco Fries. "It's my play on New Jersey, where I came from," Hadley explains, adding that everything on the menu can be made vegetarian if requested. The lineup will change seasonally, though certain popular staples will always stick around.

Hadley is also looking forward to collaborating on the bar program at Honor Farm with ideas like creating a chicken tikka masala skewer for a drink garnish.

And he's thinking about the future of Samosa Shop, too. He's already started looking into the possibility of packaging his samosas for sale in grocery stores in the future, though his real passion is "serving things that are true to home and giving people a sense of joy" in person, he says. To that end, "the goal is to replicate this in multiple spaces."

"It's scary as hell," he admits of opening his venture in a new space. But, he adds, "we're finally running things indoors and not in a tent. I'm really excited."

Samosa Shop at Honor Farm is located at 1526 Blake Street and is open from 5 to 11 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 5 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, visit samosashopco.com.