PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2010
Media Contact: Ross Jones, ross@watershedrestaurant.com

Watershed announces Joe Truex as Executive Chef
and Partner

We are pleased to announce Chef Joe Truex will become Watershed's Executive Chef and Partner beginning June 1, 2010.

Chef Joe Truex will be partnering with Watershed restaurant to devote his energy and renewed passion for Southern cooking to this iconic restaurant. Chef Truex, a native Southerner, plans to preserve Watershed’s signature dishes and introduce new menu options with a continued focus on Southern cuisine. He also plans to change the menu more frequently and create daily specials to keep the menu fresh and interesting. Chef Truex has a keen understanding of the connection between food and wine and will take a lead role in Watershed's wine program. He is eager to bring his passion for wine to the Southern table. Chef Truex, who grew up in Louisiana, said "after exploring many different influences on food, cooking at Watershed will be like coming home."

Chef Truex currently lives with his wife and two children in Decatur, Georgia. He grew up in the small town of Mansura, Louisiana, attended Louisiana State University, and began his culinary training in New Orleans at Fairmont Hotel in 1986. A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in New York (class of ‘89), he worked at the original Le Cirque under Chef Daniel Boulud, and continued his training overseas in Basel, Switzerland and back in the states in Las Vegas and New York City. Chef Truex has most recently been Chef at the prominent Atlanta restaurant Repast, which he and his wife and Co-Chef Mihoko Obunai-Truex opened in 2006. Chef Mihoko will take over as the sole owner and Chef of Repast.

Watershed's owner Emily Saliers, who is also one half of the Grammy winning folk rock group Indigo Girls, is enthusiastic about what Chef Truex will bring to Watershed. "Chef Truex is a brilliant Chef who truly understands the Southern food culture. He shares our commitment to seasonal, local and sustainably sourced ingredients and will create an exciting menu based on those principles. We are thrilled to have Chef Truex at the helm of the Watershed kitchen."

Watershed restaurant has received awards and recognition, both locally and nationally, for its classic approach to Southern cuisine. Since opening in 1998, Watershed has been at the forefront of the "farm to table" movement supporting local organic farmers and using only the freshest seasonal ingredients available.

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