Joe Avella: These gourmet dishes not only taste amazing
but also give you a euphoric feeling
because they are infused with cannabis.
Chris Sayegh, aka The Herbal Chef,
is a pioneer of cannabis-infused fine dining.
Through his catered events,
he's raised the bar on what is possible
when mixing cannabis and high-end cuisine.
Chris Sayegh: It's more of a slight elevation
rather than a overwhelming experience,
and we have measurements in place from our staff to our food
so that you don't get overwhelmed.
I'm gonna show you how we incorporate CBD,
THC, and terpenes throughout the meal.
Joe: Great. Chris: Yeah.
Joe: His hard work and vision are paying off.
He recently announced the opening of Herb in Los Angeles,
a one-of-a-kind restaurant
that will serve his cannabis-infused cuisine.
We visited Chris at his home to learn more
about his culinary cannabis journey.
Chris: I was studying molecular cell biology,
going to medical school,
but I wanted to be in preventative health.
So, with that, I left,
and I started to cook in kitchens.
Joe: Chris experimented on his own
with cannabis in cooking,
making elaborate, beautiful meals with minor THC dosage
because he wanted to actually enjoy his meal
instead of feeling too heavy or high.
Chris: The most paramount difference for all of this
is what infusion is verses dosage.
Infusion is putting a herb into a fat
and then heating it up,
and that infuses flavor
and the THC and CBD into that.
Great. Everybody and anybody can do that.
What dosage is
is infusing the herb and the flavor and the components
into the fat at a consistent measurement.
So, that way, you can know exactly how much THC, CBD,
and terpenes you're providing to the customer in the meal.
Joe: Chris uses a nanotechnology
that allows the THC and cannabinoids
to absorb more efficiently into the body.
Adding the cannabinoids
doesn't affect the cooking process much,
but a crucial step is at a stage where the lipids, or fats,
will homogenize properly for even THC distribution.
Chris: If you don't homogenize correctly,
which means to mix everything thoroughly
and spread it out evenly,
then one person's gonna get a big glob of the THC
and another person's not gonna get anything.
One person is gonna be in a fetal position
and the other person is gonna be chilling,
saying, "Why did I just pay for nothing?"
Joe: Chris was kind enough to whip up a few dishes
for us to give us an overview
of what he offers at his dining events.
The events are usually 10 courses
and include wine and spirits.
Chris: One of them is going to be a crab salad
with a tabbouleh relish.
And then there's going to be Wagyu
dusted with caramelized onion and charcoal powder.
And then there is a striped sea bass
with a Broccolini and dashi soda.
There is going to be a palate cleanser with peach and cream.
For a vegetable course,
we're going to do a mille-feuille
of different root vegetables
along with a compound black pepper and thyme butter.
The whole idea is to use cannabis
in all of its different forms,
showcasing what we're able to do
as we strive and push forward
to hopefully earn a Michelin star in the future.
Joe: At a Herbal Chef event,
each diner starts with a questionnaire
to help Chris and his team gauge their tolerance
and plan that diner's specific dosage.
Chris: So, we have many first-timers come to our events
and to eat with us.
Their biggest apprehension across the board
is, "I've never tried it; I don't want to get too high."
And it's totally reasonable.
The whole idea is we want to take you along a journey.
We want to take you along an experience
rather than you go out for a quick bite to eat.