Executive Chef, Co-Founder

Chef Todd Gray is co-founder of Equinox Restaurant in Washington, DC. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America with top honors, and he is a five-time nominee for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic Award. He was named the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s Chef of the Year. Chef Gray has worked closely with many organizations and hospitality groups in a consulting role, such as Salamander Hospitality, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, and various top-branded hotels. He was tapped by the Obama Administration to become part of Michelle Obama’s initiatives with school lunches. As a part of The First Lady’s “Chefs Move to Schools” program, Gray was recognized by the White House for his dedication to promoting healthy lifestyles for elementary students and their families. Chef Todd has made its reputation simultaneously by catering to the movers and shakers of this city and by awakening diners to the culinary bounties of the mid-Atlantic region.

Co-Founder/General Manager

Born and raised in Washington, DC, Kassoff earned an economics degree from the University of Maryland and augmented her studies abroad at The University of London. She lived in Israel, spending her time between farming on a Kibbutz in the Golan Heights and in Elat working as a cook for a scuba charter company. Eventually, she moved back home to DC to begin her career in food distribution, where she met her husband Chef Todd Gray in 1993. Together Ellen and Todd opened their first restaurant, Equinox in 1999. For over 24 years Ellen has been a fierce trailblazer in D.C.’s hospitality industry and continues to forge modernist visions of hospitality, forever reinventing its role in America. Ellen has closely aligned herself and worked energetically with humane causes for animals and the environment