After City Shuts Down Chef’s Weed-Infused Dinners, Unika Noiel Finds a Danksgiving Workaround
Seattle’s Unika Noiel, head chef of the Pioneer Square Italian restaurant Che Sara Sara, is also one of the city’s foremost experts on cooking cannabis-infused food. Whereas most retail edibles are sweet, like cookies and gummy worms, Noiel’s infusions are more of the soul food variety, ranging from fried chicken to catfish to watermelon salad.
Using a combination of traditionally made weed butter and an infused flour, which she invented, Noiel has hosted what she calls “Luvn Kitchn Fellowship” dinners for much of 2017, inviting guests to her restaurant and cooking private, invite-only, multi-course cannabis-infused meals. However, after Seattle Weekly reported on Noiel’s dinners, officials from the city told her to cease and desist last month. But with Thanksgiving—or, as she calls is, “Danksgiving”—fast approaching, Noiel has been trying to figure out a way to keep up her momentum cooking with cannabis for friends while also steering clear of any violations with the city.
We spoke to Noiel about the Fellowship series, as well as her upcoming “Danksgiving Day” menu, which will be hosted at an undisclosed location for friends and family. (You can find her recipes for weed butter, candied yams, and cornbread here.)