"Accounting For His Taste"
The Washington Post

I always look forward to a meal at Equinox. Its chef-owner, Todd Gray, serves seasonal American food that is very much to my taste, reflecting an imagination grounded in classical training. At lunch, I might find shrimp and celery salad, a chic-looking mound of pristine shrimp, cool diced celery, fresh tarragon and juicy tangerine bits. Dinner can feature grilled rib rack of pork, poised on some robustly flavoured Swiss chard and a near-liquid puree of potatoes. A fine dish, it's subtly sweetened with fresh Bing cherries and caramelised shallots - and it's evidence that some pork on the market still has savor. In Gray's pastas, I can taste the years he spent cooking at Galileo, his local ingredients and stylish arrangements remind me that he was taught very well by a few of Southern California's culinary masters, too. Aside from a charming wine room in the back and two cozy rear booths, though, the interior remains one of downtown Washington's least glamorous for the price; the glass-enclosed front room, with its sloping floor and skylights, feels too much like an unfinished solarium. And the tables for two are small fits fro large frames. Yet the food is so pure, the service so professional- the complimentary farewell of homemade cookies so thoughtful - I chide myself for wishing Equinox would dress a little better.

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