Elmina. 2208 14th Street, Northwest.

Chef Eric Adjepong competed on Top Chef and hosted shows on the Food Network. He has written a Ghanaian cookbook and a children’s book based on his own upbringing in New York as a first-generation Ghanaian American. He even developed a collection of kitchen and tableware. But today, Adjepong is finally opening his own restaurant. Elmina, an upscale restaurant centered around its native West African cuisine, will debut on 14th Street NW in January 2025.

“I wanted to open a restaurant since I was 10 years old. And I knew that if I was going to open one, I wanted it to be of my own free will, 100% myself,” Adjepong says. “This could only have worked if I had saved enough money to do it myself. And I finally did it.

The restaurant, located in the former Seven Reasons space, will offer contemporary takes on regional Ghanaian dishes, exploring ingredients and flavors from the country’s coastal and landlocked regions as well as West Africa and the African continent in its together. It’s an extension of the cooking that Adjepong has done not only through television and books, but also through his pop-up and catering business and his work for restaurants like Kith and Kin, the former Afro-American restaurant. Caribbean by chef Kwame Onwuachi.

Elmina’s menu of family-style small plates and platters will include street foods like kelewele, spicy peanut plantains, and kyinkyinga, grilled meat skewers. There will be Ghanaian classics like fufu and light soup (a tomato-based soup with steamed fish or meat), which will be accompanied by a hand-washing ceremony since fufu is traditionally eaten with hands. And of course, there will be Jollof rice. “I always say that if an alien came to Ghana or the West African region and asked ‘take me to your most popular dish’, eight out of 10 people would say Jollof rice,” says Adjepong .

On the more modern side, Adjepong plans to have a crudo on the menu complemented by West African ingredients such as palm oil, passion fruit and corn nuts. He’s also working on a plant-based version of suya (traditionally spiced beef), crispy okra fries, and pan-fried wagashi cheese (a West African cheese made from cow’s milk). Adjepong will also offer a four-course tasting menu (price to be determined), highlighting both family recipes and more refined dishes.

Although Africa is not as well known for its desserts, Adjepong says he fell in love with making sweets and cakes. On Elmina’s menu, he is working on 2.0 versions of puff-puff (spicy donuts also called bofrot) as well as abele wall, milk ice cream popsicles.

The bar’s menu aims to celebrate the region’s bounty, incorporating ingredients like soursop, hibiscus, mango, alligator peppers and palm wine made from the fermented sap of palm trees.

As for the space itself, Adjepong wants the atmosphere to resemble that of the nights of Accra, the capital of Ghana, full of West African culture and music. Each section of the dining room will be themed around products from the region, including cotton, tobacco, indigo, wood and sugar cane. The green tones represent the wealth of Ghana and the blues nod to the Atlantic Ocean. There are also many accents of gold, which Ghana is known for and which is Adjepong’s favorite precious metal. In fact, the name Elmina comes from a town in Ghana which means “gold mine” or “treasure”.

“That’s what I want to celebrate. This is the treasure,” says Adjepong. It is the gold of the food, of the people, of the music, of the entire country.

Food editor

Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind DC’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian as of July 2016, she was food editor and Young & Hungry columnist at the Washington City Paper. She is a native of Colorado and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.