Dukem's Last Weeks on U Street, and Where the Neighborhood's Ethiopian Table Goes From Here

Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant and its upstairs lounge at 1114-1118 U Street NW will serve their last customers on Saturday, November 7. The family announced it on Instagram on October 1. The 51st quotes the post: "After nearly 30 incredible years, it is with heavy hearts that we share the difficult decision to close." That leaves about four weeks.

Losing a restaurant this old makes it easy to assume Ethiopian food is leaving U Street with it. The current map tells a different story. The blocks around 9th and U still have a cluster of Ethiopian kitchens, but most of them opened well after Dukem did. On U Street itself, the dining room carrying the cuisine forward has been open since 2024, and its idea of a night out includes live jazz.

A Family Decision on a Prominent Corner

Tefera Zewdie opened Dukem in 1997 as a market and carryout. WUSA9 reports it grew into a place for friends, family and the community to gather. It became a full-service restaurant with a lounge upstairs, on a U Street corner the 51st calls one of the city's longest-standing Ethiopian addresses. Zewdie and his wife, Hiwot Gebru, came to DC from Ethiopia around 1980. His wife and two daughters have worked to keep the business going.

That history matters more than any story about rents or the neighborhood. In a TikTok caption quoted by WUSA9, his daughter Lydia described how much keeping it open took:

"For the past two years, I've worked my 9-5 and then come straight to Dukem and the lounge after work almost every single day."

She also wrote that closing was something her parents had already talked about and were planning toward. After her father died, keeping it going became "a way of holding onto a piece of him."

Many readers will remember 2024, when Lydia posted a plea on social media asking the community to help the family's restaurant. The food reviewer Keith Lee came to eat, called it "the best food," and his video drew 5.9 million views on TikTok. That boost bought time, and two years later the family has chosen the ending on its own terms. Eater DC quotes the closing statement as saying the decision was "not made lightly." No new tenant or plan for the space had been announced as of the closure coverage. Dukem also has a Baltimore location, and the announcement covers only the U Street restaurant and lounge.

Four Weeks of Ordering

The family's post asks guests to come in "during these final weeks to share another meal, raise a glass, reminisce, and celebrate the memories we've created together." If you're going, Eater DC's closure writeup lists what longtime regulars order:

1. The sambusas, pastries filled with vegetables.
2. The chile-spiked fava beans, which Eater calls a breakfast favorite.
3. The doro wat, a zesty chicken stew.
4. A cold glass of mango juice to go with any of it.
5. A late visit upstairs. Most evenings the lounge runs as a late-night club with live Ethiopian music and a full bar.

The last item is the hardest to replace. Plenty of places on these blocks serve injera. Few spaces on the corridor have combined a family dining room downstairs with Ethiopian live music upstairs for this long.

The Corner That Started It

Eater DC's current Ethiopian guide, updated January 29, 2026, says DC's Ethiopian food was "initially rooted around 'Little Ethiopia' at the intersection of Ninth and U Streets NW." It adds that the region's Ethiopian community "continues to spread out" into Northern Virginia and Maryland. In a March 2025 piece, the Washington Post reported that rising business costs have pushed Ethiopian operators toward more affordable locations around the region.

So the outward spread is real, and the original crossroads still holds a cluster of Ethiopian restaurants. Here's what the most recent sources show within a short walk of 9th and U. Each listing below appears in Eater's January 2026 guide. For Eatopia, Habesha and Chercher, DC's October 2026 alcohol license roster also shows active licenses at these addresses.

The two kitchens on 9th Street are the most direct link to the old crossroads. Habesha is a carryout, restaurant and market owned by three Ethiopian brothers. It's open all day, and Eater calls it a breakfast mainstay. Its ful is mashed fava beans that jalapeños heat and yogurt cools. Its kinche is a savory bowl of cracked wheat and spiced butter. Since Dukem's fava beans were also a breakfast staple, Habesha is the nearest place to keep a morning ful habit going after November 7.

Chercher takes its name from the West Hararghe zone in Ethiopia's Oromia region. Eater counts Top Chef star Kwame Onwuachi as a known fan. Along with the short ribs and lamb stew, it serves tej, the regional honey wine. It has also expanded beyond Shaw, with locations in Bethesda and Columbia Heights.

Who Carries U Street Itself

Eater's guide lists two Ethiopian restaurants on U Street: Dukem and Eatopia. After November 7, Eatopia will be the only one left in that guide. It's a very different kind of place from the one it replaces.

Eatopia sits at the base of the Ellington apartments, and Eater describes it as a stylish dining room "surrounded in art" that serves modern takes on the cuisine. You can order tej in glass jugs, sambusas, doro wat and tibs, or a communal platter with some of everything. Meals end with a coffee ceremony poured at the table into porcelain cups. The restaurant also hosts a jazz night that Eater calls popular. The Washington Post identifies the owner as Surafel Gizachew, formerly known as DJPhatsu. His wife, Eden Yimer, runs the kitchen. A March 2025 listing put live jazz on several nights a week starting at 7 p.m. That schedule is more than a year old, so check the current calendar before planning a night around it. PoPville reported Eatopia open by late May 2024, so it has been on the corridor for less than three years.

Side by side, the two restaurants show the change on this stretch of U Street. Dukem started as a market and carryout. Eatopia opened as a styled dining room with a coffee ritual and a music program built in from day one. Both put live music at the center of the evening, with Ethiopian sets above Dukem's dining room and jazz at the foot of the Ellington.

The Remix Two Blocks Over

The most experimental Ethiopian cooking near the corner is at 2108 8th Street NW. Eater reports that chef Elias Taddesse opened a permanent Shaw home there in May 2025 for Doro Soul Food, his berbere-spiced chicken, and Mélange DC, his burgers made with Ethiopian flavors. A third menu, Moya, opened at the same address on June 17, 2025, according to PoPville. Moya serves tacos such as doro wot-braised chicken on corn tortillas. According to Eater's January 2026 guide, the top seller since opening day has been The National, a spicy fried chicken sandwich in the style of doro wat, with kebe aioli and turmeric slaw.

Doro wat is on Dukem's menu, on Eatopia's and on a taco at Moya. The flavors that started at 9th and U are still served within a few blocks of each other. What's changed is the format: a market-and-carryout model at Habesha, a sit-down dining room at Chercher, an art-filled jazz room at Eatopia, and a counter remixing Ethiopian flavors into fast food on 8th Street. The one format closing for good on November 7 is a family restaurant with live music upstairs, run by the founder's widow and daughters at the same address for nearly 30 years.

U Street's restaurant scene is part of what makes these blocks home, and nearby favorites shape daily life here. If you're thinking about a move around U Street, or just want to talk through how the neighborhood is changing, Jen Angotti is happy to help. Let's talk about your next move.