Washingtonian - 100 Very Best Restuarants

Many restaurants at a certain level of ambition claim to use the freshest local and seasonal products but few chefs are as conscientious in searching out the local best as Todd Gray. He spent four years in the kitchen of Robert Greault at La Colline and seven years in Roberto Donna's kitchen at Galileo. When he decided to open his own restaurant, he applied classical culinary technique to area products and traditions. Local sand dabs in their short season, Chesapeake Bay oysters, veal from Randall Lineback cows in a herd near Middleburg - Gray's menu reads like a directory of the best the area has to offer.

Dinner at Equinox may be ordered a la carte or in the form of four- or six-course tasting menus for $60 or $80. A recent six-course menu offered samples from several periods of the chef's expcrience - duck confit on a bacon-frisee salad; a Piedmontese-style ravioli of local pumpkin with brown butter, fresh sage, and amaretti; a crisp-skinned cod filet with potatoes, mushrooms, and minced truffle; tenderloin and braised cheek of farm-raised veal with creamed spinach; a cheese course of Testun al Barola with quince marmalade; and for the finale, a homey apple cake with Butgundy-poached pears.