Around Town

This Just In! Chef Kwame Onwuachi to Open New Restaurant at Salamander

It has just been released that acclaimed Chef Kwame Onwuachi is returning to the nation’s capital this fall to open a new restaurant at Salamander Washington DC, though the concept has not yet been unveiled.

Onwuachi, who currently owns Tatiana in New York City, has been acclaimed as Esquire’s 2019 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.”

He has a relationship with Salamander owner Sheila Johnson, having created The Family Reunion, a celebration of diversity within the hospitality industry, with her during the pandemic at Salamander’s Middleburg, VA property. The Family Reunion is now in its third year.

“The time is right to return to DC, and I can’t think of a more appropriate location to open a new restaurant that speaks to the character and lineage of DC than at this storied Salamander property,” Onwuachi said in a release about the new project.

“As a child, I spent summers in DC with my grandfather, a professor of Pan-African studies at Howard University, who shared his passion for the city with me. I fell in love and can’t wait to return.”

The restaurant partnership with Onwuachi is much anticipated at Salamander DC, a property, which Johnson bought in September 2022.