Serigne Mbaye learned to cook in Senegal beside his mother, and the seven courses at Dakar NOLA still start from that kitchen.
Mbaye was born in Harlem and raised in Dakar, and he trained at the New England Culinary Institute before cooking at Commander’s Palace, Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in New York. He came back to New Orleans in 2018 and started Dakar NOLA as a pop-up at Mosquito Supper Club, where he served as chef de cuisine. He and business partner Afua “Effie” Richardson turned it into a permanent tasting menu restaurant in November 2022.
The awards came quickly after that. Eater named it one of the country’s best new restaurants in 2023, and the James Beard Foundation named it Best New Restaurant in 2024. Mbaye then won Best Chef: South in June 2026, the second Beard award to land at the restaurant.
The menu makes a historical argument through food. Many of the Africans brought to Louisiana during the slave trade came from Senegal, and Mbaye cooks to show where their traditions still turn up in New Orleans pots. Jollof rice sits close to jambalaya. Soupou kandja, an okra and seafood soup, reads as an ancestor of the okra gumbo served across town. Gulf seafood and produce from South Louisiana farms fill the plates, and the menu shifts with whatever farmers bring in.
Dinner runs like a gathering more than a performance. Some courses arrive family style, a nod to West African dining, and the whole room is served each course at the same moment. Mbaye talks about teranga, the Senegalese idea of hospitality that means bringing someone into your home and spending real time with them. Richardson works the front of the house and usually greets guests at the door herself. A wall of West African masks lines the dining room, and the largest table is communal, seating up to six.
The restaurant moved this summer. It left its Magazine Street cottage and reopened June 2 at 937 Leonidas Street, in the former Mat & Naddie’s space near the river levee. The new location was announced with a patio serving an à la carte menu, a more casual way in for anyone not ready for the full dinner, so ask whether it is running before planning around it.
Booking takes planning. The seven-course tasting menu costs $175 per person, with a $120 wine pairing and a $60 non-alcoholic pairing available. A 20% service charge funds living wages for the staff. Reservations open three weeks ahead on OpenTable, with new dates released daily at 10 a.m. Central, and every seat is prepaid and non-refundable. Guests can reschedule once with at least two weeks of notice or transfer a reservation to someone else.
The menu is pescatarian, and fish stock runs through the rice and soup courses. The kitchen cannot serve vegetarian, vegan, or kosher diets, and it cannot work around allergies to fin fish, soy, allium, honey, or tomato. Shellfish allergies can be handled with 72 hours of notice. The experience suits adults, and the restaurant says so plainly.
Service runs Tuesday through Saturday with seatings at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. The meal starts on time for everyone, and late arrivals join at whatever course is underway. Dress however makes you feel good, and use the street address when calling a ride, since some apps still route the restaurant’s name to the old Magazine Street location.
