Gary Landsman

Despite having to close his restaurant for nearly six months due to a fire, Todd Gray kept his staff intact and paid them.

Restaurateur Spotlight: Todd Gray, Equinox

Early in the morning on Dec. 18, 2009, chef Todd Gray got the news that Equinox, his beloved restaurant, was on fire. And if a blaze on the verge of the holiday season weren’t bad enough, the next day delivered a crippling snowstorm—not exactly merry and bright holidays in the Gray house.

During those first few days, there must have been moments when Gray feared that Equinox might pass beyond the horizon, never to be seen again. But if so, those moments were brief, for he and his wife, co-owner Ellen Kassoff Gray, were soon busily putting Equinox’s pieces back together again.

“When I got the call, I never thought we wouldn’t reopen again—that’s why you have insurance,” says Gray. “I was always hopeful things would work out, and they did. I just never thought it would take five and a half months.”

The restaurant community, which holds the Grays in high esteem, rallied to their support. Aria offered Gray a place to cook and to serve his faithful customers their holiday lunches and dinners. At first, the Grays said they’d reopen in two weeks. Then reality set in. Equinox Redux would be a long way off.

Equinox may have been insured, but claims have a way of taking longer than anticipated when it comes to processing and payment. In the meantime, how do you keep a temporarily closed restaurant from becoming a fatality, especially when at least 40 percent of restaurants go out of business each year? For one thing, you hang on to your staff, even if you have to pay their salaries while the restaurant is dark, which is what the Grays did—for nearly six months (the restaurant reopened in June).

“That was the intention, and it’s been pretty much the case,” says Gray. “We’ve gotten almost 100 percent through this with everyone being almost 100 percent paid, thank God.”

Recasting the Mission

According to an old proverb, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good, and the wind that shuttered Gray’s restaurant gave him a much-needed respite from his hectic schedule. Best of all, it gave him time to spend with his and Ellen’s 11-year-old son, Harrison.

“Todd got to attend all of lacrosse season this year,” says Ellen, “plus all the parent-teacher conferences, the association meetings, the school parties—all the things he had to miss over the past 10 years. That was the upside.”

Another upside was that after the game or practice, father and son would go to the market and shop for the family’s dinner. Once home, Gray’s son became the sous chef. “We had a good five months together,” says Gray. “There may have been occasional friendly fire in the kitchen, but we really enjoyed cooking and eating together.”

Another advantage of the accidental furlough is that Gray finally had the time to rethink his restaurant’s offerings and come up with some new dishes.

Gray is not particularly loquacious by nature—until you ask him about his menu, and then it’s cornucopia time: “The new menu is designed with an opening section for the table that’s more interactive. It encourages people to eat something while they’re looking at the menu and having their glass of champagne or a cocktail. It’ll give them a chance to pass around some little duck spring rolls or risotto fritters.” The entire menu is light, smart and inventive.

Having watched her husband cook for 20-plus years, Ellen Gray is a well-qualified critic. “What people are seeing in the reopened restaurant is a serious maturity on the plate,” she says. “Todd is a very subtle chef. He doesn’t scream flavors in your face. Instead, he’s very good at layering flavors and making each bite of a dish have a different level of intensity. His maturity as a chef is in what he’s been building over the years, the subtlety of his flavors and understanding the complexity of simplicity, if you will.”

“Todd, where are you?”

Location can be as important in the restaurant industry as in real estate, and being a short stroll from the White House has always been a plus for Equinox, especially now that the Obamas, committed foodies, are in residence.

Last year, US News & World Report ranked Equinox number five on its “Top Ten Places to Eat with D.C. Big Shots.” And, when the president-to-be took his wife out for her birthday dinner in early January 2009, he chose Equinox in large part because of Gray’s reputation as a pioneer in local and sustainable cooking, an approach fostered by the Obamas.

One of the top chefs invited to ply his trade on the White House lawn, Gray works with White House assistant chef Sam Kass as part of Michelle Obama’s anti--obesity, pro-healthy food campaign for kids. At the First Lady’s Kids Fair last October, Mrs. Obama gave him a shout-out: “And then we have Todd Gray. Todd, where are you? Raise your hand. Todd is from my new hometown right here in Wash-ington, D.C.”

Gray is particularly proud of his leadership role in the building of an herb garden at Murch Elementary School—“Putting an herb garden in a D.C. school was monumental,” he says with pride.

Was there ever a time, in those five and a half months of being a restaurateur without a restaurant, when he considered getting out of the business?

“Sure,” says Gray. “You have those moments. But then you just have another gulp of wine and keep on going.”