Meet Pradyut Bansal | co owner and lead food maker at Chaatwala

We had the good fortune of connecting with Pradyut Bansal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pradyut, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Staying true to my roots. We make Indian street food classics with the intention of invoking nostalgia and joy. We are intentional about the food we serve and how we go about making it. At the end of the day the food is the highest priority and we don’t take shortcuts when it comes down to it. This attention to detail and consistency to me are reasons why we’ve done well.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Chaatwala was born from a yearning for food I grew up eating. I was surprised to see that a lot of my favorite foods were not readily available in Denver.

I’m am most proud of my commitment to the flavors. I want my food to taste like the food I grew up eating and loving. We are a mostly scratch kitchen which means we make everything we use. I buy two products off the shelves and am currently working on testing recipes so I don’t have to do that. I try to the best of my abilities to make it the same way it was originally made. The flavor is key.

Im excited by the community we have started building. Very few things make me happier than seeing a regular come by and leave just as happy as they did the first time they ate with us.

I don’t think any business is easy to run and Chaatwala has been no different. It has forced me to persevere through challenges day after day. I’ve had to learn about so many aspects of running a business. At our very first farmers market, my wife and I set up with a couple of pots and 1 item on the menu. I was like I don’t need a sign, our food will sell itself. Spoiler: I was wrong 😑 while the food was great (IMO), I learned the need for branding and getting the word out. It was a humbling experience to say the least.

When things get stressful, I tell myself to take things one step at a time. I cannot execute 5 different things at the same time. So slow down and breakdown the task into more manageable pieces.

We are Chaatwala and we serve food that tastes like home.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oooo this is a fun one. So I maintain a Google map of places I want to eat and places we would take out of towners. If it is market season, taking them to a market is an absolute must.

In no particular order:

Get Rights – is one of my favorite bakeries in town and I will always go out of my to share their treats with friends.

Little Arthur’s Hoagies- we go there for the pizza. We love how crispy it gets and the white pie is delicious.

Cafe Tres- some of my favorite pastelitos are town.

Sonny’s Mediterranean – to grab a quick but delicious meal on the way to the mountains

Cart driver – we’ve been loving their late night happy hour of late. How do you beat fresh bread and delicious butter?

1up – an arcade bar on colfax.

Yuan wonton – helped me convince one of my friends to move here 😂 their paper thin dumpling wrappers are unmatched. I’m also inspired by their approach to the food that they make. Every dumpling is hand folded.

Market friends – if we do to go a market, there a couple of spots I love taking them to- switch gear farms, moon raccoon baking company, Dos Caras and savory Saigon.

I’d likely try to convince them to go to one of the places on my “ want to try” list. On the top of list currently is Molotov Kitschen + Cocktails

I’m a sucker for a good escape room. If the friend visiting is into it, I’d almost certainly try to book a room at 303 escape or escape works denver

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My wife and co founder Michelle Buse, I couldn’t do this without her support. All the friends and family back in India that take the time to share their knowledge and techniques with me to help me become a better cook.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denverchaatwala?

Image Credits
Superrosiellc