Chef Nikki: 3 Things She Can't Smoke Without

Chef Nikki is the culinary force behind one of the most ambitious plant-forward dinner series in cannabis — a touring program that drops into cities across the U.S. and abroad, pairing live cooking with flower in ways the traditional infused-dinner circuit rarely tries. A Midwest-rooted chef who splits time between Detroit and the road, she's built a following on the strength of her menus, her hosting, and a point of view that treats cannabis as a creative ingredient rather than a novelty. Her stop at Good Grades is a quieter look at how she actually consumes when the dining room lights go down.

Before she even names her three things, Chef Nikki sets the table on who she is. "I have the largest culinary event in the world, actually, that travels all over the country and outside of the U.S. in very specific cities," she explains. "And we do some really dope experiences with plant."

That framing matters. Most guests in the 3 Things series talk about flower, papers, and pre-rolls. Chef Nikki is a working chef whose whole career runs through plant — so when she sits down at Good Grades, she answers the question like someone who designs experiences for a living. Her three essentials are environmental, not material.

"We do some really dope experiences with plant."

"One of the first things that I cannot smoke without is setting and creating a vibe," she says. "The vibe is super, super important."

It's a simple sentence with a surprising amount inside it. Lighting incense. Setting an intention. Slowing the room down enough that the session becomes a deliberate act instead of a default. "It allows me to settle into a space of comfort and a space of awareness where I can essentially create."

For a chef who builds menus around plant, that opening ritual is functional, not decorative. It's the prep work for everything that follows.

"The vibe is super, super important."

Her second essential is the room itself. "Putting different things around me that help stimulate my mind," she says. "Whether it's a puzzle, a whiteboard so I can write down new ideas, also music in that creative space."

The puzzle and whiteboard are telling — she's not building an aesthetic, she's building a working studio. The music dials in the geography. "I'm from the Midwest. I live in Detroit part-time, so house music is part of that creative space." House music in Detroit is less a genre than an inheritance, and it's the perfect tempo for the kind of loose, generative session she's describing.

"I'm from the Midwest. I live in Detroit part-time, so house music is part of that creative space."

The third pick is the one you'd expect from a chef, and the only one that's actually a thing you can hold. "Being a chef, I like to create food and I like to make new recipes," she says. "My favorite thing to have is typically broth — maybe it's ramen or pho, but I kind of rest in the Asian spaces."

She narrows it down further. "Japanese or Thai, which is my absolutely favorite food. Some broth with some coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger. Man, it is like music to my soul."

It's a thoughtful answer. Broth is hydrating, aromatic, and gentle on the palate cannabis already has fired up. Lemongrass and ginger hit the parts of taste a session sharpens most. Coconut milk rounds the edges. The munchies as a chef would design them.

"Some broth with some coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger. It is like music to my soul."

Chef Nikki's three things quietly argue that the session is bigger than the flower. The vibe sets the stage. The creative space gives the high somewhere to go. The food closes the loop and brings the body back down on purpose.

It's the kind of answer you'd expect from someone who designs experiences for a living — and a useful reminder for the rest of us that what's around the joint often matters more than what's in it.

Chef Nikki's three essentials — vibe, creative space, and food — are a chef's blueprint for a session that actually goes somewhere. Light something, set something down to make with, and have a bowl of something warm waiting at the end.

Watch the full interview below and find more artist, chef, and tastemaker conversations in our Cannabis Culture hub.

"It is like music to my soul."