Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Patel.
Hi Jay, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
If you truly know me, the only Indian thing about me is the food! I have been the default grill guy dating back to college and have had a lot of fun hosting cookouts and BBQ’s at my home. Ironically, I was raised a vegetarian since my parents are Hindu and I never ate meat growing up — that was until a high school football team dinner. Before every day we had a team meal and during one of these times I opted for chili which in the past was vegetarian. Something about this chili was different (in a great way!) and my teammate told me it had beef in it. Let me tell you, that was the BEST chili I had ever eaten. With that instance, I started eating meat behind my parents back and soon realized all of the deliciousness I had been missing out on. For those interested, I did end up telling my parents that I eat meat and they are (now) fully supportive.
After moving to Atlanta in the middle of a pandemic in 2020, and settling down with the love of my life, one friend suggested I start a pop-up, and I figured why not?! It was that night the idea, name and concept of Dhaba BBQ was created. I wanted to be able to share the flavors of Indian food with all kinds of people and change the stereotypical perception of traditional Indian food. I wanted to turn classic Indian dishes into handheld delectables. I think some people find Indian food intimidating particularly if they have never had it or are spicy food averse, but I’m looking to make it approachable to everyone.
Over the past 13 months we have made some of the best memories! We routinely have lines out the door and around the block, which is truly humbling. Who would have thought that my love for making good food would have people flocking to different parts of Atlanta with only a couple days notice! With all of the support from the friends, family and fans I want to keep giving more as our brand continues to evolve. Yes we are a pop-up, but we have recently tried our hand at a Supper Club — we took things to a new level to offer a semi fine-dining experience. Some of the dishes from this experience included smoked Indo jerk chicken tostada’s, lemon pepper Chilean sea bass, tandoori Denver cut steaks, ube pani puri, and braised nihari oxtails!
I am currently on a small hiatus, A.K.A paternity leave. M wife and I recently welcomed our sweet daughter into the world, so I am taking some time off to spend with her as we transition to chaos of parenthood. Our daughter has given me a newfound motivation to succeed and I am very excited when I return to the food scene as we have a lot of big things planned!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Whew, no, it has not been a smooth road but it has been very humbling. When we first started, we had to go door to door to find a brewery that would allow us to pop-up there. We would often spend all day at pop-up on the weekends for only a handful of sales at the end of a long day. Since the majority of our pop-ups were outdoors, the infamous Atlanta rain was also a factor for some of our pop-ups. But we were new and never cancelled a pop-up because of the weather! The Dhaba BBQ show goes on rain or shine!
Other than that, conveying the concept of Indian fusion BBQ was hard to some because the idea of Indo fusion BBQ is not really well known. While Indo Chinese is a familiar concept, you don’t hear or read much about Indian fusion BBQ. In the age of social media, it is quite time consuming. The time committment to social media is also time consuming. There is always a need to create new content that is specific to your brand, reply to messages and interact with others in the industry to stay engaged. My wife gets annoyed at me for being on my phone all the time, prior to Dhaba BBQ I hadn’t changed my profile picture in 15 years!
I have really tried to think outside the box with the kind of food we have put in front of our fans, along with some cool collaborations! Recently, we did a Tandoori Chicken Pizza (a 10/10 btw!) with our local neighborhood spot, Ruby’s Sourdough Pizza. We also did a South Asian BBQ night with Minhwa Spirits and Sweet Auburn BBQ that was a huge hit! We came up with a a Lemon Pepper Sando with Smyrna Stoutbros and Variant Brewing, and lastly, we did a Dhaba Chai Pop-up with The Chai Box and Minhwa Sprits (possible future brick and mortar concept?!) We have a lot of cool projects lined up in the future including a couple of savory pies with Pie Bar, a variety of pizzas with Ruby’s, some cool tacos ideas with Tacos La Villa, and more that we are lining up!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
So, for my full time job, I am a Cybersecurity Manager. I previously knew nothing related to food and hospitality industry as I had been in the cybersecurity realm for over 10 years. Becuase of my non traditional career background and no formal training as a chef, I like to think my take on food is unique and always has me thinking outside of the box! Food has come naturally to me, and that’s why I am trying to bring a modern take to Indian food to the table and to the people.
I feel when you go to any Indian restaurant, the food on the menu is pretty much the same (or a lot of overlap). I wanted to make Indian food approachable to everyone, while also adding a creative and tasty twist to it! When I first started out my mission was to turn Indian food into handhelds delectables. Indian food is known for typically being associated with curries that are eaten with naan (Indian bread) and rice. Outside of our wings, the rest of our pop-up menu is sando styled (think Tandoori Chicken Sandos and Pulled Butter Chicken Sandos).
I’m most proud of the people we have met along the way. We have done many cool projects with Ming Han Chungand James Kim (Minhwa Spirits), Monica Sunny and Sundeep (The Chai Box), Howard and Anita Hsu (Lazy Betty/Sweet Auburn BBQ), Sydney Sevdalis (Neighborhood Supper Club), and Sam Flemming (Punk Foodie). They have all played a big role in not only the success of Dhaba BBQ, but also guiding me on a personal level outside of food. It is amazing to meet others that are following their own passions and being able to work with them!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedhababbq/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Dhaba-BBQ-61554409562689/
Image Credits
Kola Adetola Aaliyah Man Andrew Hetherington
