Chef Cherif Ndiaye
🇸🇳 SÉNÉGAL / QUICK FIX: Get a weekly fix of Senegalese favorites delivered right to your door.
🇸🇳 SÉNÉGAL
📍 Home chef, deliveries possible
💲 Cash or Zelle
🥤 No Alcohol
EDITOR'S NOTE: Follow the chef on Instagram to see when he plans to make food deliveries. He also attends and cooks at Senegalese events around town.
📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los AngelesQUICK FIXES are newly written articles a bit shorter than the regular long-form journalistic pieces. They are free to all subscribers. If you are on a free plan, please consider upgrading your subscription to continue to support the work done here. Thank you!Fans of football that also enjoy world foods might remember the World Cup coverage from 2022 on eattheworldla.com, where 25 of the 32 nations that participated were joined here in Greater Los Angeles. The small Senegalese community met for their match against England in Leimert Park, and on this day Chef Cherif Ndiaye was amongst those cheering on their nation.
Amongst other endeavors, he is also a home chef and runs deliveries of his dishes on selected days (weekends mostly). If you follow his Instagram stories, he announces when and what he will making, mixing things up so you can try many different offerings. He also seems to be the go-to chef for Senegalese gatherings and parties around town, making sure everyone is fed well when the community gets together.
After three delicious orders, it seems like the right time to share his creations with people who might want to get more of a taste of Sénégal in their lives. The small West African scene in Los Angeles is dominated by Nigerians, but there are big (and small) differences between the cuisines of these nations often grouped together.
The first dish ever tried from the chef was his thieboudienne ($20, below), a dish of fish and rice that is often considered Sénégal’s national dish. Chef Ndiaye has recently represented his nation in a jollof contest in Los Angeles, so you know his rice will be top notch as a base for the dish.
In Sénégal, jollof is stewed with tomatoes and onions and other cooked vegetables join the finished thieboudienne along with fish. While salmon may not be the best selection for the dish, it probably makes sense for a delivery route that takes a decent amount of time to complete. Try to make sure your appetite is ready to go so you can enjoy everything right when it arrives.
In Sénégal thieboudienne is served on a large circular plate that is placed at the center of the table. Each diner works on the portion closest to them, adding bits of fiery scotch bonnet peppers to their bites, all eaten by hand. You can (and should) replicate this at home by taking multiple portions out of their containers and combining them.
Other dishes have survived delivery better, like the lovely yassa poulet ($20, above), a stewed chicken over rice. You will find various yassa dishes throughout West Africa now, but its signature is a sharp sourness from citrus and mustard used in its cooking. Along with tender meat, onions, garlic, and plenty of spices unique to each chef, this is as comforting a dish as it looks and sounds.
A recent delivery route offered mafé yapp ($20, below), another stew this time focusing on peanuts. Yapp translates generically to “meat” but this dish was made with lamb by Chef Ndiaye. It is sometimes referred to as a peanut butter stew, but even those that do not like what comes in a jar of Jif or Skippy should give mafé a try.
The stew has the sweetness of the groundnuts and is joined by tomatoes, oil, garlic, and onions. The finished product is thick and creamy, joined by potatoes and meaty carrots, and served over white rice.
After you find the chef on Instagram and look for the perfect time and dish for your tastes and schedule, also watch out for the public events he lists. Finding him cooking at these will be the optimal way to enjoy the foods at their freshest. Joining a gathering of the Senegalese community of Los Angeles will also be a genuinely fun time, regardless of the food situation.
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