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    Upscale dining space with bar and lounge seating

    THE STORY OF DŌGON

    Chef Kwame Onwuachi is no stranger to pushing boundaries, but at his Washington, D.C. restaurant, he honors them and the West African lineage that helped draw the borders of the District of Columbia. Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi sits along the revitalized Southwest waterfront in The Potomac Hotel Washington DC, and the acclaimed chef returns to the nation’s capital with a concept inspired by DC Surveyor Benjamin Banneker and his heritage to the West African Dogon tribe. Pronounced “Doh-gon,” the restaurant serves vibrant cuisine through an Afro-Caribbean lens and draws from Onwuachi’s unique Nigerian, Jamaican, Trinidadian and Creole background.

    HOURS

    Dinner 

    Tuesday - Saturday: 5pm - 10pm 

     

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    JAMES BEARD AWARD-WINNING CHEF, RESTAURATEUR & AUTHOR

    KWAME ONWUACHI

    Kwame Onwuachi has penned multiple books, like his successful memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef and the bestselling 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 as one of its Best New Chefs, and named by the James Beard Foundation as "Rising Star Chef of the Year." Dōgon DC is Onwuachi's second restaurant opening, following the highly acclaimed Tatiana in New York City. In 2023 and 2024, Tatiana was named as the city's best restaurant by the New York Times and rated one of the best new restaurants of the year by Esquire. Forbes called it more than a restaurant and the "future of fine dining."

    Chef KWAME ONWUACHI portrait
    CHEF DE CUISINE

    MARTEL STONE

    A North Philadelphia native, Chef Martel Stone found his love of cooking in the folds of a soft curd French omelet. Influenced by all intersections of the Diaspora, he creates flavorful dishes inspired by childhood stories and exploring throughout his career. Chef Stone's cooking style embodies his interpretation of Contemporary Diaspora cuisine by layering bold spices and herbs into each dish.

    His culinary experience is diverse, ranging from high-end to Mom-and-Pop restaurants. Highlights of his professional journey include working as the Executive Sous Chef at Kin and Kin Washington, D.C., Executive Chef at The Gathering Spot and Chef/Founder of The Black Supper Collective.

    Chef Martel is a Food Network competition veteran, judge, awardee of their 2024 Hotlist, and winner of Chopped Next Generation, Guy's Grocery Games, and Wildcard Kitchen.

    MARTEL STONE
    FOUNDING BEVERAGE PARTNER

    DEREK BROWN

    Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi partnered with acclaimed bartender Derek Brown to create its craft cocktail program. Known for his influence on Washington, DC's cocktail scene, Brown has helped shape some of the city's most celebrated beverage experiences.

    Brown co-owned Columbia Room, The Passenger, Mockingbird Hill, Eat the Rich, and Southern Efficiency, and was named Imbibe Magazine's Bartender of the Year. He also played a key role in establishing the Rickey as the official cocktail of Washington, DC.

    As founder of Positive Damage, Inc., Brown advocates for mindful drinking and a more inclusive bar culture. He served as Chief Spirits Advisor to the National Archives Foundation from 2015 to 2020 and is the author of Spirits, Sugar, Water, Bitters and Mindful Mixology, a guide to no- and low-alcohol cocktails.

    portrait of Derek Brown

    HISTORY AND INSPIRATION

    According to the Maryland Center for History and Culture (MdHS), Benjamin Banneker was a self-taught, free African American tobacco farmer, whose brilliance in astronomy and mathematics garnered the attention of the most powerful white men in the new nation. With the approval of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Ellicott enlisted Banneker to assist in surveying the territory which was to become the District of Columbia. After the survey’s completion, Banneker would go on to engage in a correspondence with Jefferson about the equal abilities of men of African descent.

    In 1994, historians preparing a National Register of Historic Places registration form for the Pierre L’Enfant plan of the City of Washington wrote that 40 boundary stones laid at one-mile intervals had established the district’s boundaries based on Banneker’s celestial calculations. Among many recognitions, Banneker has been honored with a commemorative stamp, has had schools and parks named after him, and has been the subject of numerous books.

    According to MdHS, which owns copies of the original Banneker almanacs and is in possession of the Banneker’s handwritten astronomical journal, Banneker was the grandson of an African slave named Bannaka and an English woman named Molly Welsh. Molly was a former indentured servant who purchased Bannaka and another slave upon her release from servitude, as she needed help working her tobacco farm. A 2002 biography of Benjamin Banneker from Charles A. Cerami explored this ancestry further and reported that Bannaka (Benjamin’s grandfather) was a member of the Dogon Tribe, perhaps even royalty.

    The Dogon people are an African tribal population of 400,000 to 600,000 native to Mali, most of whom live in the hills and mountains of the Bandiagara escarpment. Beginning in the 1930s French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlin began studying the Dogon people, and their findings prompted further authors to report significant mathematical, scientific and astronomical knowledge dating back hundreds of years, especially surrounding their detailed knowledge of the star system Sirius, which is made up two separate stars: Sirius A and Sirius B. This is notable as it wasn't until 1862 that the American astronomer Alvan Clark deduced the existence of Sirius B using a telescope, among the most advanced for that era. And, it was not until 1970 that there was confirmation of the existence of this star, never mind a photograph of it. Yet the Dogon people apparently knew this information hundreds of years beforehand, calling the Sirius B star by the name of "Po Tolo."

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    "I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT A RESTAURANT SHOULD HAVE A STORY, BECAUSE WHEN IT HAS A STORY IT HAS A SOUL." - KWAME ONWUACHI

    GALLERY

    A Feast for the Eyes.

    DōGON
    DōGON
    DōGON
    DōGON
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      ACCOLADES

      Esquire Best New Restaurants in America 2024

      Condé Nast Traveler Best New Restaurants in the World 2025

      TIME World's Greatest Places 2025

      Bon Appétit The 20 Best Restaurants of 2025

      New York Times America's Best Restaurants 2025

      The World's 50 Best North America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025

      Yelp Best New Restaurants 2025

      The World's 60 Best: North America's 50 Best Restaurants 

      Yelp: Best New Restaurants 2025

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