Equinox on 19th Menu

Equinox on 19th Restaurant Review:

Chef-owner Todd Gray displays culinary momentum as this regional-centric restaurant adds more specialty dinners and continues its seasonal menu, one that Gray evolves with differing takes on local ingredients. Gray adds a new twist to at least one seafood dish: curing the Maine diver scallops at the table on Himalayan salt slabs. Using local lamb, he serves it three ways and dubs it “cassoulet.” Beef rib-eye is dry-aged, and the thick pork rib-eye is just as worthy. Seafood changes with the daily catch but you may find red grouper from the Carolinas and Baltic cod to go with Norwegian salmon. Sides can be as interesting as the entrées with buttered leeks, Brussels sprouts petals with apple wood-smoked bacon, or candied beets. Servers are trained in wine and food pairings and with the eclectic wine list, the choices can be beyond the norm. Gray's pastry chef keeps busy with savory butter crusts to wrap Rappahannock oysters with Virginia ham. But there’s the sweet side too: Granny Smith apple donut holes served with a Calvados ice cream shooter. Chocolate fans have a hard time passing up the bittersweet chocolate dome with banana mousse and peanut butter crunch. And the cheese course is not slighted with one of the city's best selections of farmstead cheeses from the U.S.