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The Brief

Ever since January, the world can’t look away from Washington, DC. But for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the city’s political goings-on, there is welcome escapism to be found in its culinary scene, where an equally newsworthy — but much less contentious — second term is now underway. Beloved chef Kwame Onwuachi, who earned a James Beard Award in 2019 during his initial tenure in DC (back when he ran Kith and Kin), has returned to the city at long last, opening Dōgon this past September. Granted, he had a pretty good project pulling him away back in 2020: Tatiana, the NYC institution that he went on to launch at Lincoln Center in 2022, was eventually crowned the city’s best restaurant by the New York Times. Part of the magic of that spot is its design by hospitality heavyweights Modellus Novus. So when it came time to plan a follow-up back in Washington, Onwuachi was eager to build upon their collaboration.

For Dōgon, he imagined a dining environment that would pay tribute to Benjamin Banneker, a scientist and descendent of the West African Dōgon tribe whose astronomical expertise guided the initial surveying of America’s capital in 1791. On the menu, that inspiration drives a mix of local specialties like blue crab and classic Afro-Caribbean flavours. For Modellus Novus, the challenge then became finding ways to also communicate that narrative visually. As founding partner and creative director Jonathan Garnett explains, the solution lay in depicting
the night sky not as a place of simple darkness but as a “whole beautiful world in and of itself,” reflecting the same dramatic blues and violets that astronomers like Banneker develop a unique appreciation for.

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The Setting

Dōgon replaces an earlier dining room in Washington’s Salamander hotel that was originally “one big space, without any of the sense of intimacy and mystery that were in Kwame’s telling of this story about nighttime,” says Garnett. In his and his team’s 445-square-metre reconfiguration, diners now arrive at a brushed brass front desk with a lounge to the left and the main dining room beyond. Adding to the intrigue, lights illuminate sheets of Kriskadecor’s aluminum links — used here as a reference to surveyor’s chains.

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The Design

The sequence of spaces that Modellus Novus developed visually chart an evening’s progression. While the lounge’s mauve walls call to mind dusk (a decision made to embrace rather than fight against the natural light that spills into the windowed area), the ambiance dims considerably in the inky dining hall, a long zone made seemingly endless by some clever material choices. “Navy blue mirrored glass [on one of the walls] extends the space through reflectivity, but also dissolves its perimeter,” says Garnett. Tabletops, for their part, are another moment of midnight magic. “They have these purples, greys and whites that swirl in a way that’s very shadowy,” he notes. Yet for all its moody mystique, the space is not lacking for navigational logic, either: A mix of original and new, non-structural columns delineate a clear view back to the open kitchen.

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The Details

If Dōgon has a certain theatrical spirit, there’s a reason: The project’s lighting consultant, David Weiner Design, is led by a seasoned Broadway vet. Here, he worked with Modellus Novus to calibrate the fixtures illuminating the dining room’s
ceiling domes to a cool 4100 Kelvin, the same temperature
as moonlight. But the designers were still careful to balance
this effect with moments of golden glow. “People like warmth for gathering, so we didn’t want that astral feeling to be too overwhelming,” says Garnett. Enter rows of Bocci pendants joined by matching portables on each table. “They become like candles in a dark room — this natural way to bring people together,” he says. The Roll & Hill chandelier in the private dining room was another strategic lighting selection, chosen for its resemblance to lunar exploration spacecraft.

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The Scene

Since Dōgon’s opening, Garnett has kept tabs on the photos that diners post on Instagram. “One thing that I’ve been able to pick up on is the pride that people have in going there,” he says. “They really get dressed up to have a good time. And there’s something in there that’s really meaningful to me — to see what the design has inspired from people, and this phenomenon that Kwame has created.” Forget the White House — in Washington, the night sky over Dōgon is the city’s bright spot.