Nikki Steward's Star Turn Columbus Monthly Long before she was catering Dave Chappelle’s Summer Camp or Diddy’s Super Bowl party, Nikki Steward started in the same place countless other chefs have: grandma’s kitchen. Growing up, Steward says her grandmother was the only person she knew who cooked from scratch. Sunday dinners after church were a staple in Steward’s family, and by the time she was a preteen, she was helping prepare the meals. “At one point, my grandmother started passing the torch to me and was like, ‘You got all of it.’ I was like, ‘Wait, I didn’t want to do all of it. You can still make some pound cake, because those are your thing,’” Steward says laughing when we talk via phone in October.