New Braised Pork Shank with Sweet Potato Hash at Watershed
Todd Gray’s Watershed, the coastal cuisine restaurant located within the Hilton Garden Inn in NoMa, has undergone several changes over the past couple of months. Less than a year after opening the restaurant in 2011, Todd Gray turned over operations of the restaurant to Culinaire, a food and hospitality management company (Gray operates several restaurants and wrote a cookbook). According to David Wood, Senior Vice President with Culinaire, Gray still plays an active role with Watershed and spends time in the kitchen every month with the staff. He recommends and changes certain dishes on the menu so that they maintain his “style and vision.” Culinaire’s vision for Watershed is to have the restaurant represent “a road trip down the Eastern Seaboard” like Todd Gray initially envisioned.
Executive Chef Joseph Paire
Now, the restaurant has brought in new Executive Chef Joseph Paire who has conducted an overhaul of the menu that features several exciting new dishes (view menu here). A D.C. native, Paire graduated from Johnson and Wales culinary school and has since worked in several kitchens around D.C. including Sonoma, Mussel Bar, Lincoln (opening Chef de Cuisine), and most recently Farmers Fishers Bakers in Georgetown. He was excited to come over to Watershed because of the restaurant’s beautiful space and the growing NoMa neighborhood.
New House Salad at Watershed
Chef Paire released the new winter menu in December. He kept the bbq shrimp and grits and the Eastern Shore gumbo on the menu but introduced several new items. On the lunch menu he added a fried oyster blt and a new signature house salad that incorporates lollipop kale. For dinner he added braised pork shank with sweet potato hash, a blood orange glazed salmon with red quinoa and farro risotto (his favorite dish right now), and a white chocolate cranberry cheesecake. As a tribute to his D.C. roots, Chef Paire also added chicken with Mumbo sauce to the bar menu. Going forward, he plans to rotate the menu seasonally and have specials around notable days like Valentines Day.
White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake at Watershed
For years, Watershed has served lunch and dinner everyday but has not had brunch on the weekends. Chef Paire tells us that is likely to change soon as they are currently working on a brunch menu that could debut in early spring.
Blood Orange Glazed Salmon at Watershed
Additionally, NoMa residents can get a 10% neighborhood discount when dining at Watershed and Chef Paire has planned several events in NoMa apartment buildings to showcase the new menu.
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