Black chefs, restaurants recognized at 2026 RAMMYS Awards
By Victoria Mejicanos AFRO Staff Writer vmejicanos@afro.com The Washington, D.C., culinary industry celebrated its top chefs and restaurants at the 44th Annual RAMMYS Awards and Gala on June 29, where Black culinary talent took home some of the night’s highest honors. The RAMMYS, hosted this year at Arena Stage at The Mead Center for American Theater, are […] The post Black chefs, restaurants recognized at 2026 RAMMYS Awards appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
Black News 
By Victoria Mejicanos
AFRO Staff Writer
vmejicanos@afro.com
The Washington, D.C., culinary industry celebrated its top chefs and restaurants at the 44th Annual RAMMYS Awards and Gala on June 29, where Black culinary talent took home some of the night’s highest honors.
The RAMMYS, hosted this year at Arena Stage at The Mead Center for American Theater, are one of the most prestigious awards in the hospitality industry for the D.C. region. Judges are anonymous and are members across all types of media with expertise in the restaurant industry. There are also publicly voted categories.
One of the winners, Tsehay in Adams Morgan, made history as the first Ethiopian restaurant to win a RAMMY. They were named “Casual Restaurant of the Year.”
In a post on Instagram following the win, the restaurant thanked its guests and acknowledged the weight of the history-making honor.
“DC is home to the largest Ethiopian community outside of Ethiopia, and for decades the Ethiopian restaurants here have fed this city, built this community, and laid every brick of the road that made tonight possible — long before anyone outside our community was paying attention,” they wrote. “We’re standing on their shoulders, and we carry that with a lot of pride and a lot of humility.”
Chef Martel Stone, chef de cuisine at Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi, won Rising Culinary Star of the Year. In a speech at the ceremony, he thanked Onwuachi for opening the restaurant and “giving me the opportunity to show what I wanted to do, and show the food.”
The night’s recognition extended beyond the winners, with several Black chefs and restaurants earning nominations in some of the RAMMYS Awards’ top categories.
Chef Kwame Onwuachi and Chef Eric Adjepong were both finalists for Chef of the Year. Elmina, led by Adjepong, and Marcus DC, led by chef Marcus Samuelsson, were among the finalists for New Restaurant of the Year.
The post Black chefs, restaurants recognized at 2026 RAMMYS Awards appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
