Kwame Onwuachi is leaving his Wharf restaurant Kith and Kin. The executive chef, who opened the celebrated Afro-Caribbean eatery in 2017, revealed the news in an Instagram post on Monday.
“This is hard. This isn’t easy, but it’s necessary,” he wrote. “Yesterday was my last service as the Executive Chef of Kith/Kin.”
He continued, “This place was for dreamers, least notably me, but dreamers who maintained faith that one day their culture would be accepted as equal and significant.”
Kith and Kin’s menu incorporated elements from Onwuachi’s heritage in Nigeria, Jamaica, New Orleans, New York, and more, with dishes like green curried goat with warm roti flatbread and peel-and-eat shrimp with bell pepper, butter, and his mother’s house spices.
Onwuachi thanked his team at the restaurant and the city, concluding, “Whatever my next venture is I will continue the dream and open something of my own where we can all stand taller together. Thank you for everything.”
Onwuachi and James Ryan, the general manager of the InterContinental hotel that housed the restaurant, told DCist in a joint statement that the restaurant would continue.
Onwuachi also told Eater on Monday that the hotel could “do what they want” with Kith and Kin, and that he would seek an ownership stake in his next restaurant.
Onwuachi’s announcement comes days after Kith and Kin pastry chef Paola Velez revealed she, too, was leaving the restaurant.
Velez tweeted on July 2 that during her time on furlough in the wake of COVID-19, she had been able “to really reflect on what’s most important to me,” and reassess her culinary goals.
She announced that she would be joining the teams at Rose Previte’s Maydan and Compass Rose as their executive pastry chef, writing, “In the next steps of my journey, I have found refuge in two womxn power houses. Throughout my career here in DC I’ve relied on their advice for my well being, support for my mental health, and as a way to course correct.”
Onwuachi and Velez have become two of the most notable names in D.C. dining in recent years.
After bouncing back from the closure of his much-criticized first restaurant, Shaw Bijou, the former Top Chef contestant opened Kith and Kin in 2017 to widespread praise, earning him national stardom and a 2019 James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef. He also released a memoir, Notes From a Young Black Chef, which is being turned into a movie.
Velez, who joined Kith and Kin in 2019, received a nod in the same category this year, with the winner to be announced in September. She also recently collaborated with Colada Shop founder and Serenata co-owner Daniella Senior on a new doughnut pop-up called Doña Dona.
Just last month in an interview with Vogue, Onwuachi discussed reopening the restaurant, which shut down in mid-March before partially reopening last month, during the health crisis and ongoing protests.
“This is a time to reset many things,” he told the magazine, both regarding post-pandemic dining and equality and diversity in the restaurant industry. “Going back to the old way shouldn’t be the goal. The goal should be to change, making sure that everyone is included in the conversation of cooking and serving.”
This story has been updated to include a statement from James Ryan and Kwame Onwuachi.
