Chef Serigne Mbaye’s highly anticipated modern Senegalese tasting menu restaurant explores the West African diaspora’s influence on New Orleans cuisine.
Chef Serigne Mbaye ’s much anticipate restaurant opens Wednesday , and it will carry the name of the belt down - up serial he and business partner , Effie Richardson , make , Dakar NOLA .
The 28 - year - old chef , born in Harlem and raised in Senegal , made moving ridge with apop - upthat explore the West African diaspora in Louisiana and landed Mbaye on the James Beard brusque tilt for Emerging Chef last June . Now in his own space , fame and culinary admirer showed up in force — I share a tabular array with Willem Dafoe ( more about that later)—and chefs Nina Compton and Melissa Martin were all smiles for Mbaye and the front and back of house full BIPOC team .
Mbaye knows New Orleans is the proper position for his first eating house . “ There is a bass connection between Senegal and New Orleans , ” he sound out . “ Through Dakar NOLA I am begin the conversation of this story for many who do n’t fuck the history . ”
Dakar NOLA chef Serigne Mbaye|James Collier
almost a fourth part of enslaved people forced from Africa to the southern US came from a region between the Senegal and Gambia Rivers . Mbaye draws on this connection , advisedly , for seven courses . The restaurant offers seat every night at 7 Prime Minister , Wednesday through Saturday , by reserve .
“ The people of the Senegambia neighborhood who were land to New Orleans during the trans - Atlanta striver trade brought their cuisine and preparation proficiency and lay the foundation for what we now recognise as Creole cuisine , ” Mbaye tell .
A dish named The Last Meal boast grim - eyed pea plant braised in medallion oil — the historic , fat smasher helped enslaved people subsist the arduous Middle Passage . Mbaye adds Louisiana crab over top at Dakar NOLA , just just cooked through for a silken bite . Redfish keep abreast , with intricately scored skin and attend to alongside Jollof , a herald to Red Rice and Jambalaya . It ’s a looker over a light creamed Pisces stock , but is quickly overtaken by the Crevette , a saucer of whole runt with tamarind — a nod to New Orleans ’ BBQ shrimp — shelled only at the stomach .
The menu is tweaked every night and revamped every four to six weeks . Unless a private board is request , parties are seated together , and that ’s how I came to wipe out at the community table with Willem Dafoe , who is currently in New Orleans filmingAND , a Yorgos Lanthimos film with Emma Stone . For years , I ’ll be recount the fib of the time I wash my hired hand with Willem Dafoe . Dinner at Dakar NOLA begins with tableside handwriting laundry surveil by Ataya tea leaf and a Mburu roll with spiced butter .
Larger tables at Dakar NOLA are oval , an intentional alternative by Rebeckah Blossom and Lauren LeMaster of Master & Man Interior Design for the 30 - seat dining way , painted in shades of cream and glowering European olive tree . “ The bod offers a good sense of community at the board that Serigne kept key to us , ” aver Blossom . “ A place you could have a real conversation . ”
Make certain to snap a photo in front of the salon wall filled with African masks and headdress , which were a gift from the family line of Civil Rights lawyer Lolis Elie , who helped integrate New Orleans . His son is author , filmmaker , and food for thought historian , Lolis Eric Elie .
Jollof|Dakar NOLA
Dakar NOLA ’s location on the 3000 block of Magazine St is notable ; it seat between Lilette and Le Petite Grocery , just blocks asunder . The three eating place create a steamroller of fine dining here , the amount of culinary acumen on this stretchiness is a chip staggering . And though Mbaye and Richarsdon say the choice was unintentional , it ’s a Modern page for New Orleans to have a Black - owned , -operated , and -staffed eatery in this locale .
“ I ’m excited to be a restaurateur post - COVID because there is a young narrative being told , ” says Richardson . “ A substitution class shift has hap in how people mesh their restaurants as well as what the diner expects . operate Dakar NOLA is an opportunity to make an impact in my community of interests by say the untold story of the communities ’ ancestors . ”
Looking forrader , Dakar NOLA will establish Sunday Supper , partnering monthly with Mbaye ’s ever widen set of culinary friends . It kvetch off when Mbaye brings his mum , Khady Kante , into the kitchen with him in December .
Crevette|Dakar NOLA
For now , the restaurant partners with two area vino shops , Second Vine Wines and Spirit Wines ( each a block away for selections to BYO ) while await a premises license .
DakarNOLA is located 3814 Magazine Street in New Orleans . It open Wednesday , November 24.Call 504 - 493 - 9396 or visitdakarnola.com .
Stephanie Burnette ( @eatdrinkcarolinas ) is a solid food and change of location writer , editor , and intellectual nourishment stylist and splits her meter between Greenville , SC and the Bywater in New Orleans .
Serigne Mbaye and Effie Richardson|Jaron Randall
Dakar NOLA|James Collier
