Chef Cisse

Owner | Exec Chef

Chef Cisse moved to the United States in 1995 from Senegal. Throughout his 18 year career, Chef Cisse has been privileged to work with top chefs at Michelin-star restaurants such as, Daniel by Daniel Boloud, Vong, and Mercer Kitchen by Jean George Vongerichten. Chef Cisse has also worked at top rated restaurants such as The Russian Tea Room, Piazza Notte, and the fromer Le Pierre Pinard. Theses positions have garnered him praises within the culinary community, and throughout his long career. It shows in the cooking at his restaurants Ponty Bistro & Renaissance Harlem where they serve delicious Pan African-Franco fusion dishes sprinkled with Mediterranean influences. 

Chef Cisse began to see opportunities open up for him and in 2008 he opened his first restaurant with Cousin Chef Cheikh, Ponty Bistro, in Gramercy. They opened a second Ponty Bistro restaurant in Harlem 6 years later in2014, then they opened their third restaurant, Renaissance Harlem in October 2017. Renaissance Harlem is Chef Cisse's second Harlem creation, and is a nod to the Harlem Renaissance. It was a cultural, artistic, and social explosion that spanned from the early 1920's to the early 1930's as brilliant talents of African descent migrated to this neighborhood and revolutionized the creative fields from all aspects.