Food Network star, Eric Adjepong opens contemporary Ghanaian restaurant in DC 'Elmina'
Food Network star opens "Elmina" restaurant in DC
Former Top Chef contestant and Wild Card Kitchen host Chef Eric Adjepong is paying homage to his home country, Ghana, with the opening of Elmina in the nation's capital.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In the heart of D.C.’s U-Street corridor, you’ll discover the new restaurant Elmina.
It’s a contemporary Ghanaian restaurant. The dining rooms are filled with art and bold colors that celebrate Ghana’s heritage, but of course, it’s flavors.
"Ginger, bell pepper, peanut, soursop, passionfruit, hibiscus," are just a few unique flavors that Chef Eric Adjepong says people will smell coming out of the kitchen at Elmina.
Elmina is more than a name.
"Elmina is one of my favorite places to go when I go back home to Ghana. It’s a fisherman’s town, a very humble but hard-working town, and it’s absolutely beautiful," Adjepong adds.
It’s a beautiful treasure that he wants to share with the region.
"D.C. has embraced me so much," he adds.
Especially during his time on the Food Network’s competition show, Top Chef.
"When I had the opportunity to represent where I’m from - I said the Bronx, of course, but I mentioned D.C. and just happening to do so well when I came back to my new home there was so much love and shoutouts," he explains.
It’s a love that still follows him through his success as a host on the Food Network’s Wild Card Kitchen. Now he’s returning that love; giving D.C. the first taste of his childhood dream.
"I give myself or my younger self a ‘high five’ every time I walk in here," said Adjepong.
Inside the restaurant that sits on 14th Street is where the chef hopes he can tell a perfect story of Ghana and all it has to offer.
"Every dining room is themed to a specific commodity or treasure that brings wealth to the country," he shares during a tour.
"We are in the tobacco room," which is a gold-rust colored room that houses one of the bars and sentimental family portraits.
In the next room over is the Cotton Room. It’s the first dining area you see when you enter. It also gives people a sneak peek of where the magic happens through an open kitchen concept.
"We have a jollof duck pot. We have the delicious Banga stew. It’s a seafood stew with shrimp and octopus," he shares.
The bar menu also offers specialty cocktails that hold memories.
"I named it after my step-father, Daddy Bofa. Sort of like an old fashion."
A restaurant built on the foundation of family, that he hopes people will experience one bite at a time.
"I want a sense of curiosity to flow. A sense of being fulfilled, enriched, and I want you to feel like you left transported from one place, and then you walk out to D.C., wanting to come back to Elmina."