The pioneering Black businesswoman has built something unique with the Salamander Collection: a venture that has perfected community building and an approach to hospitality that puts the emphasis on experiences.

There are small plates like mushroom etouffee and plantain hoe cake, and larger dishes such as lobster escovitch and berbere roasted chicken with jollof rice.

How four DC-inspired dishes help define the Afro-Caribbean restaurant inside the Salamander DC hotel.

The Nigerian-American restaurateur, raised in New York City, NY, opened Dōgon on Sept. 9, 2024, inside luxury hotel Salamander Washington DC. 

This week the culinary talent behind Tatiana, twice named NYC's best restaurant, opens the doors to Dogon, a fine-dining restaurant inside the Salamander Hotel.

Kwame Onwuachi, James Beard Award-winning chef, restaurateur and author, has returned to Washington, DC. His latest culinary venture, Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi, is a captivating exploration of Afro-Caribbean cuisine.

Situated at the foot of the 373-room Salamander Washington DC, Onwuachi’s newest Afro-Caribbean showpiece (pronounced “Doh-gon”) pays homage to D.C.’s late-1700s land surveyor Benjamin Banneker and his ties to the West African Dōgon tribe.

This launch is part of a significant enhancement project at the hotel, marking Onwuachi’s highly anticipated return to the nation’s capital. A James Beard Award-winning chef, Onwuachi has long been celebrated for his dedication to African and Caribbean cuisine, and Dōgon continues this legacy with a fresh and innovative concept.

The concept is intriguing: It’s a tribute to Benjamin Banneker, the Black scientist who helped survey DC’s borders, and Banneker’s West African heritage, which Onwuachi shares and is inspired by as a chef.