BEST SPA

 Located inside the Salamander Washington, D.C. hotel, this 200-seat dining destination honors legendary mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker and the ancestral roots of Mali’s Dōgon tribe.

Star chef Kwame Onwuachi, who currently runs Dōgon in Washington D.C. and Tatiana in NYC, is overseeing dinner at this year's Met Gala.

Salamander DC—the first D.C. property from BET cofounder Sheila Johnson’s Salamander Resorts— debuted a large-scale renovation this past fall, including a lavishly expanded spa and a new Afro- Caribbean restaurant, Dōgon, from star chef Kwame Onwuachi.

The District’s food scene (aka Chocolate City) has no shortage of buzzworthy spots, but there’s something undeniably special happening at Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s DC Afro-Caribbean outpost

A few blocks south of the National Mall, overlooking the Tidal Basin, the building draws on French neoclassical influences, with a rotunda that calls to mind the work of John Russell Pope, the architect behind the nearby Jefferson Memorial.

Even at 9 p.m. on a Tuesday, when most restaurants are winding down, Dogon – by the Nigerian American, James Beard Award-winning chef Kwame Onwuachi – is bumping, with chic patrons still rolling into the ethereal space evocative of a night sky.

For paving the way for women and people of color in hospitality.

Founded by Sheila C. Johnson—yes, the co-founder of BET—Salamander Washington DC is what happens when Black excellence meets five-star hospitality.