PB Brasserie: From Dishwasher to Chef-Owner on 125th Street
Chef Cisse started washing dishes at 17. PB Brasserie, his French and African steakhouse on 125th Street in Harlem, serves dry-aged steak and Wednesday jazz.
Watch the video Story @formerlyknownashashtag · Camera and edit @mr_a_plus · Production @wstudiosnj · Featuring @cissethechef
Steak with herb butter under the arched bar at PB Brasserie, 60 West 125th Street. Photo: The Innovators Den.
At 17, Chef Elhadji Cisse came to New York from Senegal and took a job washing dishes. Today he is the chef-owner of PB Brasserie Steak House on 125th Street, a dry-aged steakhouse with a French brasserie soul, African roots and jazz on Wednesday nights.
PB Brasserie Steak House is a chef-owned French and African steakhouse at 60 West 125th Street in Harlem. It opened in September 2024 and belongs to Chef Elhadji Cisse, the restaurateur behind Ponty Bistro, Renaissance Harlem and Harlem Cafe. On Wednesday night, November 4, The Innovators Den went inside: the lounge, the bar, the kitchen, the dining room and a long table of food, with Chef Cisse telling his story along the way.
He set the tone in his own kitchen. "People graduate from CIA, they come here, I teach them how to cook," he told us. "I'm serious."
The Chef: From the Dish Pit to the Pass
Chef Cisse was 17 when his father sent him to America "to work and learn, go to school," as he put it. "When I got here, my first job was washing dishes."
He never went to culinary school. "No, I learned from dishwasher to all the way up," he said. "I never been to school to cook." What he had instead were years "working downtown with all these great chefs, from Jean-Georges to Daniel," and the habit of learning every station. "Every place I run, I was the main guy. I was a chef, or I was on the floor," he told us. So when he finally opened his own restaurant: "When I come to the business, I know what to do."
Ponty Bistro came first. Chef Cisse opened it in Gramercy in 2008, then brought it uptown, where it still runs on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Renaissance Harlem and Harlem Cafe followed. PB Brasserie is the biggest of the four, and he is still on the line. "I cook every day," he said. "Every day I cook something."
The Concept: A Brasserie and a Steakhouse
"This is a brasserie steakhouse," Chef Cisse said. "If you've been to Paris, you know brasserie." The steakhouse half is about the meat: "My steaks is dry-aged, most of them."
The bigger idea is the address. "I always wanted to have a fine dining in Harlem," he told us. "We don't have that many of that in Harlem." The menu leans French with African roots, exactly what the sign out front promises: creative French and African cuisine, since 2008.
The Room: Upscale, and Still Harlem
Walk in off 125th and the lounge comes first: deep velvet seats, globe lights and a window onto the street. Then the bar, three blue-tiled arches stacked with bottles over a marble counter and quilted stools. Past it, the dining room opens up with hexagon tile, warm lamps, orange chairs and booths along the wall. Behind an arched doorway sits a private room for 25 to 30 guests.
Wednesday is jazz night. On ours, John Windsor was on piano, Paul Ramsey on bass and Sheva Edmonds on vocals. Fridays and Saturdays bring a DJ, brunch runs Saturday and Sunday, and on a Friday night, Chef Cisse says, 30 to 40 people fill the bar.
"Very upscale, but you can still feel like it's Harlem," one of us said at the table, and that is the needle PB threads. Harlem is changing fast, and a lot of its core culture is being pushed out. This room grows with the neighborhood without forgetting where it is.
The Kitchen: Where Everything Happens
"This is our office," Chef Cisse said as he walked us back. "Everything is happening right here." Steaks rest on the rack, butter foams in the pan and the line moves fast. While we watched, a cook filleted a branzino in a few clean strokes, and a plate of lobster spaghetti came together at the pass.
His favorite cut? "I love the ribeye steak. I'm a ribeye guy." The lobster spaghetti, he added, "is one of the best seller also."
The Table: What We Ate
The steak landed with a round of herb butter melting on top, a cup of jus and a pile of peppery watercress. Cut in and the center was rosy, and the char from the grill did the talking: that smokiness is what sets it apart. The watercress hit home, too. It is a green a lot of us grew up eating, and we don't see it on enough plates.
Escargot came bubbling in a cast iron dish with bread for the butter. The mac and cheese wore a golden crust, the calamari had a crunch you could hear across the table, and the branzino from the kitchen showed up with potatoes. "I wasn't even that hungry," one of us said, "but now I'm like, I have to eat this."
Harlem Is Home
Chef Cisse has lived in Harlem for almost 30 years. "Harlem is home for us," he said. "My kids were born in Harlem Hospital. Harlem is everything for us."
That is the story under the steak. From a dishwasher at 17 to the chef-owner of four restaurants, all in Harlem. Two years in, PB Brasserie deserves a lot more praise than it gets.
The Verdict
It's beyond the food. The steak is worth the trip on its own, but what stays with you is everything put together: the arches, the jazz, a staff that greets you like a regular and a chef-owner who is in the kitchen every night. Before you go downtown for a steak, come to 125th. It's definitely a place to come.
If You Go
- What: PB Brasserie Steak House. Dry-aged steaks, French and African cooking, full bar
- Where: 60 West 125th Street, Harlem, New York, NY 10027
- Hours: Open seven days for lunch, brunch and dinner. OpenTable lists Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to midnight and Friday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.
- Price: $31 to $50 per person, per OpenTable
- Happy hour: 4 to 7 p.m., posted at the door
- Music: Jazz on Wednesdays. DJ on Friday, Saturday and Saturday brunch
- Private dining: a private room for 25 to 30 guests
- Order: the ribeye and the lobster spaghetti
- Reservations: OpenTable or (646) 918-6874
- Website: pbbrasserie.com. Instagram: @pbbrasserie
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Your Turn
Ribeye or lobster spaghetti? Tell us in the comments, then tag who you're taking to 125th Street.
The Innovators Den visited as guests of PB Brasserie. Our opinions are our own.
For us. By us. Follow @theinnovatorsden.