Dakar NOLA
West African restaurant · East Riverside ·
Senegalese tasting menu blending West African & Louisiana ingredients
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Senegalese tasting menu blending West African & Louisiana ingredients
"Presented as a Senegalese tasting-menu restaurant from New Orleans, Dakar (Dakar NOLA) was singled out as an example of West African cooking being celebrated on the North America list." - Matthew Kang
"Recognized at No. 6 on the list, Dakar NOLA in New Orleans is led by managing director and co-owner Afua “Effie” Richardson and chef Serigne Mbaye; Richardson said she’s excited to see chefs telling their own story and asked, "Instead of just cooking someone else's food and doing it well, how can they create something on their own?" Mbaye—who spent nearly a decade cooking French food in culinary school and restaurants including Atelier Crenn—embraced his roots and called being recognized for cooking the food his mom used to cook when he was younger "a blessing." - ByAbbey Stone
"What began as a pop-up became New Orleans’s first fine-dining West African restaurant in 2022, where Serigne Mbaye serves dishes like soupou kandja (okrasoup with gulf crab), akara with caviar, and jollof rice while centering the migration history and cultural connections between West Africa and the Americas." - Eater Staff
"With a slew of awards including Eater NOLA’s Best New Restaurant Award in 2023, the kitchen of Chef Serigne Mbaye honors Senegalese cuisine, paying tribute to his mother and to the enslaved Senegalese people brought to Louisiana. One of the most memorable dishes is deceptively simple: the Rice Connection — a cast-iron pot with steamed rice, finely diced bell peppers, and a sprinkling of chives, passed around the table to share among strangers. It was described as “the best rice I’ve ever tasted — each grain perceivable by the tongue, immaculately cooked.” The menu also notes: “In Wolof ‘benachin’ means one pot. In that one pot rice meets magic.” — Erin Perkins, Eater editor, South." - Henna Bakshi
"A New Orleans restaurant whose chef Serigne Mbaya served a black-eyed pea soup with Gulf crab at the post-ceremony party — a dish singled out by attendees as worth the wait." - Sam Nelson