Dogon

The stars that once guided Washington, D.C., surveyor Benjamin Banneker in mapping the District's original borders now illuminate celebrity chef Kwame Onwuachi's newest fine dining restaurant, Dogon. The James Beard "Rising Star Chef" chose Sept. 9—the date in 1791 when the U.S. capital was named—to open his tribute to both Banneker's legacy and the West African Dogon tribe, renowned for their advanced astronomical knowledge. Set within the reimagined Salamander Hotel along the Southwest Waterfront, the 140-seat space honors their legacy in its architecture and design: metallic gold chains in the entryway reference Banneker's surveying tools, while three moonlit domes and blue-tinted mirrors create an alluring celestial atmosphere. This is Onwuachi's culinary homecoming; not just an ode to his Nigerian, Jamaican, Trinidadian, and Creole roots, but also a celebration of the city’s diversity through an Afro-Caribbean lens. “D.C. has the largest Ethiopian population in the country, as well as many South American and Asian cultural groups,” he says. From the open kitchen, chef de cuisine Martel Stone crafts dishes that map the African diaspora one plate at a time: slow-braised oxtail with rice and peas, fufu with pepper soup, berbere-roasted chicken with jollof rice. Last October, Dogon unveiled an even more intimate experience: Sirius, a four-seat counter service where Onwuachi personally cooks for guests. “Seeing people eat these dishes in a fine-dining setting is really beautiful because I feel they don't often get that shine,” he says. New reservations open 28 days in advance, but the bar and lounge accept walk-ins every night.