Joe Truex is leaving Watershed on Peachtree for a job in Dubai. The longtime Atlanta chef confirmed the move in a phone call this afternoon, and said Dec. 14 would be his last day in the kitchen at Watershed.
“I going to be the consulting chef and helping develop a restaurant that’s opening in the Mall of Dubai,” Truex said. “There’s a lot going on there, with a big ex-pat community, and it’s really exciting.”
After the closing of Repast, the Old Fourth Ward restaurant he shared with his ex-wife, Mihoko Obunai, Truex replaced Scott Peacock as executive chef of Watershed in Decatur in 2010. Watershed moved to Brookwood Hills and became Watershed on Peachtree in 2012. Truex moved with it, bringing along his Louisiana-influenced cuisine, and the restaurant's famous fried chicken.
Oddly, the Dubai opportunity came about via a former server at Repast.
“It was somebody who used to wait tables at my restaurant,” Truex said with a laugh. “He graduated from Georgia Tech, moved to Dubai and got married, and he and his wife started a little pizza restaurant in the business district.
“It did well enough that they decided to move it to the Mall of Dubai and take it to the next level. We're going to rebrand it and focus on the pizza, with a little antipasti, maybe a few pasta dishes, and some desserts.”
Truex said he’d been exploring opportunities to open another restaurant in Atlanta when the Dubai offer came.
“I was working on my next move from Watershed,” Truex said. “I didn’t necessarily want to leave Atlanta. But the Dubai people made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
About the Author
