Profile: Chef Kwame Onwuachi
Looking to the Stars
By Matt Owen
Acclaimed Chef Kwame Onwuachi makes a highly anticipated return to the nation’s capital with Dogon.
Chef Kwame Onwuachi is no stranger to pushing boundaries. But a this latest restaurant, he will also honor them – and the West African lineage that helped draw the borders of the nation’s capital – with a little help from above.
The acclaimed chef makes his highly anticipated return to the District of Columbia with a concept inspired by Washington, D.C. Surveyor Benjamin Banneker – a Black man credited with mapping the borders of the district using the location of the stars – and also exploring Banneker’s West African heritage to the Dogon tribe.
Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi opens in Spring 2024 along the revitalized southwest waterfront at Salamander Washington DC, part of a significant hotel enhancement project. Pronounced “Doh-gon,” the restaurant offers vibrant cuisine served through an Afro-Caribbean lens and draws from Onwuachi’s unique Nigerian, Jamaican, Trinidadian and Creole background.
“I firmly believe that a restaurant should have a story, because when it has a story, it has a soul,” Onwuachi says. “Researching the history of Benjamin Banneker, the Dogon tribe and the connections to our location was a humbling-yet-inspiring experience. Our menu celebrates all the cultures within D.C.’s four quadrants. This is the story of Dōgon.”
Banneker was a self-taught mathematician, astronomer and inventor who made significant contributions to the development of Washington, D.C., including his innovative use of astronomy to help survey the soon-to-be City of Washington in 1791. Authors have also contended that Banneker’s ancestry can be traced through his grandfather to the Dogon tribe from Mali, reputed for their advanced knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and engineering.
“Through his surveying work and skills, Banneker has helped bring people together for generations,” Onwuachi says. “With this story and the Dogon lineage as our foundation, we saw an opportunity to create something new: a restaurant that celebrates the rich cultural heritage of Africa in a contemporary D.C. setting.”
The incredible story of Banneker, the Dogon people and its lineage of astral observers also fueled the design of Dōgon. Undertaken by Modellus Novus, which previously collaborated with Onwuachi at Tatiana in New York City, the interior showcases the night sky and transports guests into a distinctively dramatic atmosphere where chain curtains welcome guests at the entrance, referencing Banneker’s Gunter’s Chains, a device he used to measure and survey.
Dōgon’s opening follows Onwuachi’s highly acclaimed Tatiana, which in 2023 was named the city’s best restaurant by The New York Times and rated one of the country’s best new restaurants of the year by Esquire magazine. Forbes called it more than a restaurant and the “future of fine dining.”
Onwuachi has penned multiple books, like his successful memoir, “Notes from a Young Black Chef,” and the best selling cookbook “My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef.” He has also been a contestant and a judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef.” In 2019, he was acclaimed by Esquire as its Chef of the Year, recognized by Food & Wine magazine as one of its Best New Chefs and named by the James Beard Foundation as Rising Star Chef of the Year.
The Dōgon opening brings Onwuachi together again with Sheila Johnson, founder and CEO of Salamander Collection, with whom he has built a special relationship. The pair created The Family Reunion, which has quickly become the premier gathering of culinary professionals of color in the country and takes place at Johnson’s Five-Star Salamander Middleburg resort in Virginia.
TO READ MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF BANNEKER, THE DOGON TRIBE AND THEIR CONNECTIVITY, VISITDOGONDC.COM.
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