Big Baobab is a new restaurant and entertainment venue headed for the Mission District. The business applied for its beer and wine license this week and is set to take over the former Lupulandia Brewery at 2243 Mission St.
Big Baobab is brought to us by Marco Senghor, who currently runs Little Baobab around the corner and formerly operated nightclub Bissip Baobab. Senghor tells What Now San Francisco that this will be a new beginning. “Big Baobab will offer something different, unlike anything in the past,” he says.
While we can expect the Senegalese favorites that he is known for, Senghor wants to expand the menu with more cuisine from West and North Africa. “There’s going to be all kinds of dishes not only from Senegal, but also the Ivory Coast to Cameroon and Nigeria.”
Senghor is particularly excited to serve dishes such as Thieboudienne or Chebu Jen, a traditional Senegalese one-pot dish prepared with fish and jollof rice. Of course, he plans to have the tried-and-true menu items from Little Baobab. He says the Akara (Senegal black-eyed pea ‘tofu’) and Lamb Dibi Wraps are best-sellers.
Eventually, Senghor will apply for a full liquor license to add more drinks to the menu. If all goes according to plan, Big Baobab will open this summer. Senghor is aiming for the beginning of August.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article stated that Senghor hopes to open in July. This has been corrected to August.
