Serigne Mbaye is the chef and co-owner of Dakar NOLA, the acclaimed Senegalese tasting-menu restaurant in New Orleans. His cooking explores the relationship between Senegal and Louisiana, including the West African traditions that helped shape Southern cuisine.
Born in Harlem and raised primarily in Dakar, Mbaye learned to cook beside his mother. He returned to the United States as a teenager and later studied at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, graduating at the top of his class in 2016.
After culinary school, a chance encounter in Senegal connected Mbaye with the team at Commander’s Palace. He spent two years in its kitchen, working through every station, before becoming sous chef at Café Adelaide. When Café Adelaide closed in 2018, he worked at Atelier Crenn in San Francisco and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in New York before returning to New Orleans in 2020.
During the early months of the pandemic, Mbaye launched Dakar as a pop-up. While developing the concept, he also served as chef de cuisine at Mosquito Supper Club. In November 2022, he and Afua “Effie” Richardson opened Dakar NOLA’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant on Magazine Street.
Dakar NOLA won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2024. That same year, Mbaye was named to the TIME100 Next list in a profile written by chef Kwame Onwuachi. Dakar debuted at No. 6 on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2025 and rose to No. 4 in 2026, when Mbaye also received the James Beard Award for Best Chef: South.
