Bridging the Gap

Chef Serigne Mbaye connects Senegal and New Orleans at his new tasting menu restaurant Dakar Nola

Co-owner and founder of Dakar Nola, Chef Serigne Mbaye plates a fino salad. Photo courtesy of Dakar Nola.

Tasting menus used to be a thing of past, but over the past few years, they’ve made a resurgence. Big cities like New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. are breathing new life into a style of dining that once seemed confining. That’s exactly what Chef Serigne Mbaye is doing in New Orleans at Dakar Nola, at just 29 years-old.

Honoring the capital of Senegal, Dakar Nola serves traditional Senegalese cuisine through a seven-course tasting menu (Wednesday nights offer a prix fixe $50, 3-course menu). Mbaye, nominated twice by the James Beard Foundation for Best Emerging Chef, was born in Harlem but lived most of his youth in Senegal, West Africa, where his Mother was born.

“Being nominated twice solidified that the work that we’re doing is important,” Mbaye said. “People want to hear what we have to offer.”
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The ‘we’ being business partner Effie Richardson. Born in California to Ghanaian parents, Richardson witnessed Mbaye’s passion while he was working pop-ups at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SOFAB). The two connected immediately over food. Now they’re running Dakar Nola like it’s second nature. 

Landing in the Crescent City

Mbaye attended culinary school at the former New England Culinary Institute. He decided to return home to Senegal once he graduated to help build a school for orphans in Gambia, with New Orleans mission group Giving Hope.

It was a chance encounter at the airport that changed everything. Cliff Ragan Hall, co-founder of the New Orleans Fish House, was also doing mission work with Giving Hope. The two got to know each other, and Hall offered an olive branch to Mbaye. Through his friend, former Commander’s Palace Executive Chef Tory McPhail, there would be a job waiting for him at the iconic Commander’s Palace. Mbaye accepted the offer.

He worked through every kitchen position at Commander’s in four months until he became the PM Sous Chef at the former Café Adelaide. Then he worked at SoBou, and helped open Picnic, Provisions & Whiskey. Next, he headed to San Francisco to work at 3 Michelin-star restaurant Ateleir Crenn, and then, the former 2 Michelin-star restaurant L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in New York.

He returned to New Orleans and started doing food pop-ups at SOFAB during the pandemic. He collaborated for dinner series with notable New Orleans chefs, like Chef Micheal Gullota of Maypop and Chef Nina Compton of Bywater American Bistro, among many others.

Eventually, he landed as Chef de Cuisine at the popular Mosquito Supper Club. The communal, multi-course tasting menu restaurant gave Mbaye a place to thrive. Chef Melissa Martin encouraged him to use her restaurant as a platform for Dakar Nola.

“I’ve always dreamed of opening a restaurant,” Mbaye said. “Working at the Mosquito Supper Club made me realize how it could be possible.” 
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All photos courtesy of Dakar Nola.

​Tasting History

New Orleans and Saint-Louis, Senegal are both are port cities, and both are former French Colonial capitals developed during the French Imperial expansion. They sit across the Atlantic Ocean from one another, also known as mirror cities. As early as the 18th century, most enslaved Africans in Louisiana were from Senegal.

Africans sold as slaves in New Orleans brought a skill set with them from their homeland which shaped today’s Cajun and Creole culture in Louisiana—music, dress, architecture and food. See photos of Saint-Louis and the French Quarter next to each other, and the similarities in architecture are near identical. Mbaye is shifting the narrative of Cajun & Creole cuisine by peeling back layers of Senegalese flavor with each course.

“When you look at the West African style of cooking, it’s all one pot,” Mbaye said. “Soul is built with layers of flavors, and that’s what most people come to New Orleans for.”

That soul is rooted in West Africa. Richardson knows their space has the power to educate the community, and illustrate the approachability of West African cuisine.

“I love when they are shocked at how the flavors trigger some memory of their life,” said Richardson.

One of Mbaye’s courses is what’s known as “The Last Meal.” Enslaved Africans were force-fed black eyed peas with palm oil before taking the harrowing ride across the Atlantic Ocean to New Orleans. The legume and the palm oil are high in saturated fats, and slave owners believed this meal would keep them alive through their journey of The Middle Passage.

Mbaye’s elevated version is a creamy Black-eyed pea soup with local crab meat and a drizzle of palm oil. In a sphere of fried seafood, sandwiches and rice-based dishes, Dakar Nola brings something fresh to the New Orleans culinary scene.

Dakar Nola’s seven-course experience starts with a warm welcome. The ataya, a Senegalese tea made with gunpowder tea leaves, is served with palm butter bread, called mburu in the Wololf language. The most recognizable dish would be the jollof. The versatile rice dish is very similar to jambalaya. The spices of ginger, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and scotch bonnet fill the dining room each evening.  

Mbaye pays weekly visits the local farmers markets to handpick the freshest ingredients, and he loves to use Gulf seafood. The first appetizer course is parce que, which features Gulf shrimp and tamarind. 
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​Rooting a New Home

Mbaye and Richardson lucked up when they found a renovated double shotgun along the six-mile stretch of Magazine Street. They were looking everywhere for a permanent location, and they “acted quick and rolled the dice,” Mbaye said.

Authentic African tribal masks adorn one wall, a collection from his mentor. It’s not uncommon to see a delighted guest share their dining experience on social media, and have a photo of them in front of the masks with Chef Seringe himself.

“I look at the masks and see the different cultures that speak to me,” Mbaye said.  

The choice for Mbaye to develop a tasting menu was natural. Plating, presentation and farm fresh ingredients complete the menu’s story. Mbaye is ready to impress, but more excited to comfort his guests.

“Michelin star restaurants do a very good job of telling the story between the farmer and the food, highlighting technique and organization,” said Mbaye. “New Orleans is very much, ‘you’re coming to my home’ versus Michelin star ‘I’m trying to impress you.’ I love them both, that’s the beauty in it. Dakar has a little bit of influence of everything I’ve learned.”

The tasting menu is a new idea in New Orleans, and Mbaye says the future of dining is wrapped in the concept. His seven-courses take diners on a journey, but only if they’re willing. Spending quality time with your dining partner becomes a whole lot easier.

“The food comes to you,” Mbaye said. “You don’t have to worry about what to order.”

Richardson takes that a step further. When the diners trust the chef, the outcome can be highly rewarding.

“The chef is bringing their best,” Richardson said. “People can appreciate what’s in season, and what’s grown locally.”

Guests will feel the influence upon entering the 30-seat restaurant, going deeper than the fine-dining techniques. Mbaye credits his mother for his entire success. Growing up in Senegal and Harlem, Mbaye was very much a part of his family’s restaurants. His mother, a revered chef in her own right, helped build his culinary foundation and strong-willed character.
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“She came to this country very young, and by working hard, she was able to provide for her family and achieve a lot,” said Mbaye. “30 years later, here I am cooking food that I grew up cooking and eating, but with my own voice.”