Is there a harder working chef out there than Todd Gray?

Wherever I find myself, the guy keeps popping up. Eating my way through the crowd at the Capital Food Fight? There’s Todd Gray on the stage, besting Brian McBride in a fish battle before falling to Haidar Karoum in the finals. Crash a friend’s holiday party, and there he is in his chef whites and catering hat, checking on the fancy buffet tables. And yes, there he is manning the coals during an oyster roast at his Northeast restaurant Watershed.

While not so surprised to see him cooking in his own restaurant, I was a little taken aback when I saw him bus the dishes from a dirty table, though I probably shouldn’t be.

A hands-on type of guy, Gray has been at the helm of his flagship downtown restaurant Equinox since opening it with his wife Ellen 10 years ago. After handing the reigns of the power eatery to an executive chef, Gray opened Watershed in April in the new Hilton Garden Inn by the New York Avenue Metro station and Muse in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in June. He’s working on a cookbook. He’s the culinary director for local mogul Sheila Johnson’s Salamander Hospitality group.

Gray has been running a series of monthly Friday night family-style feasts at Watershed — a clam bake in September, a fish fry in October and an oyster roast last month, which I was invited to check out. A game roast this Friday — reservations required — is the last scheduled event in the group, though more may be offered in 2012.

For $75 per person (all inclusive), guests at the dinners are treated to hors d’ oeuvres on the heated patio, a family-style dinner, live music and all the D.C. Brau they can drink. Friday’s roast features a hearty hunters’ trio of cider-brined game hen, pheasant sausage and leg of venison.

At last month’s dinner, the opening act was the actual roasting of the oysters, the stars of the show. Gray and newly hired Oyster Master (that’s his actual title) Will Sexton manned the fire pit, roasting mild Virginia bivalves by the bushel. Servers passed around trays stocked with addictive hush puppies, oyster shooters and a soup heavy on the lemongrass.

The sit-down dinner portion of the evening, which took place at a communal table in one of the Hilton Garden Inn’s ballrooms, was Gray’s twist on the fried chicken dinner that might accompany a traditional roast. A New England clam chowder and all-you-can-eat plates of juicy, crispy chicken parts and garlicky green beans hit high notes.

For the price, getting your money’s worth certainly depends on whether the menu for the evening strikes your fancy and how much beer you can drink in three hours. It’s an especially good deal no matter what, however, for denizens of NoMa, who can bring a friend for free.

But if you can’t catch Gray at his game roast or one of his many other gigs in D.C., there’s always the DR. Johnson’s Salamander Group just took over a resort property in the Dominican Republic, and Gray is responsible for the restaurant concepts there. So if you can’t eat wild game with him on Friday, you can vacay with him in the Carribean over Christmas Break.

Dude is everywhere.

Watershed
1225 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
(202)-534-1350