Washington, DC’s Black-owned restaurants are essential to the city’s culinary identity. With mainstays like Ben’s Chili Bowl and Georgia Brown’s, these establishments offer more than just exceptional food—they’re hubs of community, creativity, and resilience. The latest wave of Black-owned restaurants in DC continues this legacy with fresh energy and creative menu offerings. Here are five of the city’s top new Black-owned restaurants, where guests can experience the taste and spirit of DC.
Sly
Sly marks the highly anticipated Washington, DC, debut of renowned celebrity chef and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson. This sophisticated rooftop bar, located atop The Morrow Hotel in DC’s lively NoMa district, offers sweeping 360-degree views of the city skyline. Its interior blends rich jewel tones, contemporary furnishings, and vivid artwork that pays tribute to the city’s dynamic culture and music scene. A clever nod to the neighborhood, the “L” in Sly’s logo is designed to echo NoMa’s iconic water tower, which guests can spot from the rooftop lounge.
Samuelsson and executive chef Anthony Jones deliver a menu of globally inspired small plates and handcrafted cocktails. Menu offerings include the crispy crab cake with kohlrabi-apple slaw, doro wat empanadas, yellowfin tuna tostadas and the Sly Chicken Sandwich, which consists of a DC-favorite, mambo sauce. Another highlight is the restaurant’s cocktail menu, featuring signature sips like the Electric Sly, Red Line Remedy and a zesty lemon and golden spritz infused with tej honey wine.
Gaia Supperclub
Drawing inspiration from the glamorous dining scenes of Mykonos, Dubai, and Saint-Tropez, Gaia Supperclub brings a distinctive nightlife-meets-dining concept to Washington, DC. The venue marries high-end global cuisine with high-energy performances and a moody, lounge-like atmosphere featuring dark architectural elements contrasted by plush, neutral-toned furnishings and luxurious textures.
The concept is the brainchild of four influential industry figures: international hospitality expert Mele Melton, nightlife visionaries Wayne Johnson and Tony Perry and technology executive and investor Johannes Dzidzienyo. In the kitchen, award-winning chef Sammy Davis—celebrated for his soulful southern cooking—ventures into bold, new territory. At Gaia, he blends Mediterranean and Latin influences to create inventive dishes such as deep-fried hummus, gold-dusted chicken nuggets with crème fraîche and caviar and a showstopping 2.5-pound tomahawk ribeye accompanied by truffle butter, chimichurri and tiger sauce.
Elmina
Chef Eric Adjepong, who has appeared on Food Network and Bravo’s Top Chef, brings a fresh and thoughtful approach to West African cuisine with Elmina Restaurant. The name of the three-story restaurant, which opened in February in DC’s vibrant U Street Corridor, translates to “treasure” or “the gold mine”, a poignant reference to the Ghanaian fishing port in sub-Saharan Africa.
The restaurant offers a contemporary four-course tasting menu that reimagines traditional West African flavors through elevated dishes such as fufu with braised goat in peanut soup, jollof rice with duck and mango pavlova. In addition to its tasting menu, Elmina pays homage to Ghanaian street food with a “chop bar” menu featuring classics like chofi (fried turkey tail) with shito sauce and kelewele (spiced fried plantains).
Elmina’s design incorporates five distinct dining rooms subtly themed around key Ghanaian exports—cotton, tobacco, timber, sugarcane and indigo. The Indigo Room envelops guests in rich blue tones, referencing the Atlantic Ocean, while the wood-accented washrooms and staff areas on the lower level are a nod to the timber once used in transatlantic trade ships. Across the space, lush green hues reflect the country’s fertile landscapes, and gold accents symbolize Ghana’s legacy as a major source of gold.
Fraîche
Chef, author and YouTube sensation Matt Price has provided an exciting new addition to DC’s dining scene with Fraîche. Located in a beautifully restored historic theater in Columbia Heights, the 110-seat restaurant offers a refined take on comfort food, drawing inspiration from French, Cajun, South American and Caribbean cuisines. Popular items include the sticky ribs, bayou gumbo, mambo fried snapper and creative cocktails like the Creole Coco and the Fraîche Old Fash.
The restaurant’s ambiance strikes the right balance between vintage and modern aesthetics. Original architectural details from the theater—like exposed brick, ornate molding, and high, arched ceilings—have been carefully preserved and complemented with sleek, contemporary furnishings and warm ambient lighting. The open kitchen concept and plush banquettes invite guests to linger while curated jazz and soul playlists add to its upscale vibe.
Dōgon
James Beard Award–winning chef Kwame Onwuachi makes a triumphant return to Washington, DC, with Dōgon, his latest culinary venture celebrating Afro-Caribbean flavors and West African heritage. Located inside the Salamander Washington, DC hotel, this 200-seat dining destination honors legendary mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker and the ancestral roots of Mali’s Dōgon tribe. The design features striking geometric elements, such as gold chain curtains referencing the surveying tools used by Banneker to map Washington, DC, while mirrored glass walls and star-inspired ceiling lights enhance the restaurant’s celestial atmosphere.
At Dōgon, Onwuachi partners once again with Salamander Collection founder Sheila Johnson and Chef de Cuisine Martel Stone to present a globally inspired gourmet menu. Notable dishes include Ethiopian-spiced chicken and rice, Trinidadian curried branzino and a robust fermentation program that underscores the restaurant’s commitment to sustainability. The cocktail menu, curated by award-winning mixologist Derek Brown, highlights Black-owned spirits and includes a thoughtful selection of zero-proof options.
This article first appeared on Forbes.com.
