As the nation celebrates 250 years, the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s (RAMW) 44th RAMMYS on June 29 highlighted the power of the local food and beverage industry as a source for not only dining and entertainment, but for learning, connecting, building community, celebrating diversity, and making everyone feel welcomed.
About a mile from the 2026 RAMMYS celebrations at Arena Stage and The Anthem — both in Southwest — Martel Stone sees the importance of restaurants in action as chef de cuisine at Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi at the Salamander D.C.
“I think what’s so special about the 250 years is that it started with a gathering… and that connects directly to the core of what a restaurant is. It’s a gathering place. It’s a place for celebration. It’s a place for exchanging ideas. It’s a place for discovery,” said Stone, winner of the 2026 RAMMY for Rising Culinary Star of the Year. “When it’s time to say ‘great job,’ when it’s time to end the meeting, everybody’s looking for food…. And what better place to do those very things than to come to a restaurant like Dōgon, who celebrates all the many different cultures of D.C.?”
District Mayor Muriel Bowser also sees the D.C. restaurant industry as a way to showcase the diversity in the nation’s capital, particularly as the country commemorates 250 years.
“Washington, D.C. has always been a city where cultures, traditions, and people from across the country and around the world come together, and that is reflected in so many aspects of our life in D.C., especially in our food,” Bowser said in a late May statement. “From our Michelin-starred restaurants to the mom-and-pop spots you can find in neighborhoods across D.C., we can’t wait to welcome America250 visitors to experience all our city has to offer.”
As part of semiquincentennial celebrations, Bowser and RAMW collaborated for “EAT250: America at the Table,” a citywide initiative that brought together chefs, embassies, museums, libraries and communities across the District from June 14-June 28.
“EAT250: America at the Table is a celebration of the cultures, communities, and culinary traditions that continue to shape the American dining experience,” said Shawn Townsend, RAMW president and CEO. “The Washington region is one of the most dynamic and diverse food communities in the country, and there is no better place to tell the story of America through food than here in and around the nation’s capital.”
While the official EAT250 initiative has wrapped, the RAMMYS — centered this year on the welcoming and caring culture of the DMV restaurant industry — served as a reminder of the important work happening to provide great food, drinks and experiences for all those living in and visiting the DMV.
“This year’s theme ‘A Seat for Everyone’ carries real weight with me,” said Ricardo Johnson, executive vice president and chief growth officer at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, one of the sponsors for the annual event. “It’s a reminder that progress comes from what we choose to do for one another, and making sure no one is left behind. When everyone has a seat at a table, communities grow and they get stronger.”
Providing More Than a Meal, Embracing All Cultures
This year’s RAMMYS offered a reminder that going out for food and drinks is about more than coming together for nourishment and a good time. It’s about creating enjoyable, unifying and healing moments.
“What you do reaches further than a meal. The people in this room create places where people feel welcome, they feel seen, and where they belong,” Johnson, a longtime health care leader, said during the ceremony. “You create places where people are welcomed, where neighbors become familiar faces, where our community, for a moment, feels a little more whole. That kind of presence is its own form of care… So tonight is about you, it’s about your talent, it’s about your dedication, and it is about the impact that you carry into our community.”
At Dōgon, the goal for Stone, Onwuachi, and the entire team was not only to create a great place to eat, but also to offer an overall dining experience that serves as “a cultural connector for Washington, D.C.”
“I want [people] to get a glimpse at something that they see that’s familiar within themselves, maybe culturally,” Stone said, “but also something different that connects them to another culture.”
While Stone explained the Southwest D.C. restaurant is Afro-Caribbean at its core, it’s also a way to honor the many cultures that make the District and nation a melting pot.
“The bones, the soul of the restaurant we pulled from the diaspora, in an effort to spread the food, and the message and to celebrate it,” he said about Dogōn, which opened in September 2024. “We wanted to make a restaurant that was quintessentially D.C., so all the many diverse cultures — from the Caribbean, from the [African] diaspora, from some of the French and more traditional dishes.”
For Stone, a Philadelphia native, creating dishes and the Dogōn menu overall is about embracing a variety of different backgrounds. He said the team is completely overhauling the menu while staying true to the West African and Caribbean influences.
“We’re going to push the boundaries and I’ll have the opportunity to discover a little bit of myself,” Stone said. “I grew up in Philadelphia, and that’s a completely different ecosystem than what exists in D.C. And I have a lot of those flavors within me. And I’ve been wanting for a really long time to be able to express those things and tell different stories that all connect in one way, and this menu we get to do that.”
In addition to new dishes, the chef de cuisine said the restaurant will be even more intentional about sourcing food locally.
Further, Dōgon’s beverage menu is getting a refresh too.
“Our bar program is putting together this amazing story and it’s based on a fictional character’s travels through the Black Diaspora experience,” Stone explained. “So while starting off in West Africa… they will then travel throughout the states, throughout the Caribbean. Again, this theme of connectivity all through the restaurant.
The Rising Culinary Star of the Year said that such ideas are created from a collaborative team that brings all of their experiences, backgrounds and inspirations to the overall process.
“We really try to make sure that we are using creation by committee. Your intellectual property matters. Your ideas, your stories matter,” he emphasized. “And for me, how can I celebrate all the cultures around D.C. and not think about all the cultures that inhabit my very own kitchen?”
It’s the chef’s commitment to embracing all cultures that not only contributed to his RAMMYS win, but what creates an exciting culinary experience for all who visit Dōgon.
“So, when you come to Dōgon,” Stone said, “just be prepared to be a part of something larger than just where you are.”
For more information on RAMMYS 2026, including a full list of winners, go to therammys.org.
