Nikki\u2019s Place<\/a> in downtown Orlando is celebrating years of service and family history.\u00a0<\/p>\nWhat You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Started and continued as a generational family visit, Nikki’s Place originally began in 1999
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The Orlando restaurant’s general manager is a third-generation worker at the establishment, and keeps the memories alive
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Shannea “Nikki” Akins, says it’s been an honor learning her family’s recipes and keeping tradition alive<\/p>\n
Nikki\u2019s Place has become a generational staple for families in downtown Orlando, serving authentic southern, soul cuisine. The restaurant is led by general manager Shannea “Nikki” Akins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe food represents a story and a love that I have for our culture,\u201d said Shannea\u00a0Akins.<\/p>\n
The building was built in 1949 along Carter Street. Customers walking in will find years of service celebrated and awarded on the walls.<\/p>\n
Akins’ father, Nick Aiken Jr., started working at the restaurant as a child. He learned from the former owner, Roser Mae Jones.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was here on time, and I didn\u2019t have any place to go,\u201d said the elder Aiken. \u201cI was right here working with her and doing things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aiken says he was tired of picking oranges and working in the fields in Zellewood. He was ready for something new, so he accepted a job from Jones. The memories \u2014 and recipes \u2014 are still fresh in his mind decades later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was right here working with her and doing things. She said, \u2018OK, we\u2019re going to teach you how to make candied yams today.\u2019 I said, \u2018What\u2019s a candied yam?\u2019 \u2018It\u2019s a sweet potato.\u2019 So we make that candied yam today as she had first taught me in the 40s,\u201d said Nick Aiken.<\/p>\n
Rose became his family, igniting his love for cooking \u2014 and his love for his wife, Inez, whom he met at the restaurant. The couple took over the family business and renamed it Nikki\u2019s Place in 1999.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was something unbeknownst to me what an honor that was going to be until I got older,\u201d said Akins.<\/p>\n
The couple has now passed the business keys onto their daughter, who is finding ways to make it her own.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, this is my parents\u2019 business, but when it\u2019s transitioning to me, it\u2019s like my own creation through the stories that I tell, the information that I provide, and definitely the food I cook,\u201d said Akins.<\/p>\n
She says it\u2019s been an honor learning her family\u2019s dishes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a lot of fun things that I ate growing up, and I just learned those flavors by tasting everything cause I was always in the kitchen trying to get me a little taste of something,\u201d said Akins.<\/p>\n
This year, Nikki\u2019s Place celebrates 27 years of serving the community. The business has come a long way from its initial launch as Roser\u2019s Restaurant.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe would be so proud to see me in the kitchen, and my dad sometimes, when he sees me cooking, he\u2019ll say, \u2018You look just like Rose, like Grandma Rose,\u2019\u201d said Akins.<\/p>\n
She is keeping the tradition alive. For her, it\u2019s not just through food \u2014 it means standing alongside her family too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just gives me pride to know that I\u2019m offering these wonderful dishes and keeping the legacy going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Three generations of entrepreneurs and cooks in Orlando are keeping their family\u2019s history alive, one plate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,1011,1013,2031,274,48241,71626,558,770,1015,1190,115,139,141,140,278,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-152772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-community","9":"tag-app-human-interest","10":"tag-app-latest-human-interest-stories","11":"tag-app-local-business","12":"tag-app-top-stories","13":"tag-black-history-month","14":"tag-black-history-month-2026","15":"tag-business","16":"tag-community-news","17":"tag-emma-delamo","18":"tag-human-interest","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-orlando","21":"tag-orlando-headlines","22":"tag-orlando-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}