Ray's the Steaks

[landrumm2000]

Fine dining experience is all well and good, but, most importantly, do they know anything about coffee?

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The coffee at Ray's is crap. Good coffee would just encourage people to linger.

[mnebergall]

Fine dining experience is all well and good, but, most importantly, do they know anything about coffee?

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The coffee at Ray's is crap. Good coffee would just encourage people to linger.

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Shoot, I didn't know that they served the special "cat crap coffee" at Ray's. So that explains the bad breath after drinking a cup.

Edited February 23, 2005 by mnebergall (log)

[HORSEPLAY]

Are you guys going to hire some of the old Nectar staff like the historic baller, Mo, who has one glass eye?

He was a brilliant server.

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Not unless he can control his GI functions during service

[Fred]

Another superb meal at Ray's last night. Really amazing how busy the restaurant is. Jarad has the place running like clockwork. Well Done.

[MelGold]

Took my family to Rays Friday night to celebrate my father hitting another year on the birthday calendar...what a joyous occasion all around! The hanger steak surpassed all expectations, and easily made my selection the most envied choice at the table (not that the NY Strip and filets weren't perfect). Unfortunately, we were all trying to save room for my mom's red velvet birthday cake waiting for us at home, so I had to skip dessert this time around. The hot chocolate definitely capped off a perfect meal for us all.

Thanks to Michael, Jarad and the rest of the gang who helped make this year's celebration all the better. Can't wait for my next visit!

[Gastro888]

Will be making my first trip to Ray's soon! Snagged a Saturday night reservation for a few weeks from now. I'm thinking to order the scallops and the key lime pie. I really like the taste of a meaty, beefy steak so I hope I can order the hanger steak. Does hanger steak have any fat along the edge, a la NY strip? I love the taste of charred steak fat. *sighs*

I will get it "plain" - unless they do mushrooms and onions on the side?

Any other suggestions? Thanks, y'all!

Edited March 1, 2005 by Gastro888 (log)

[jmc8y]

Will be making my first trip to Ray's soon!  Snagged a Saturday night reservation for a few weeks from now.  I'm thinking to order the scallops and the key lime pie.  I really like the taste of a meaty, beefy steak so I hope I can order the hanger steak.  Does hanger steak have any fat along the edge, a la NY strip?  I love the taste of charred steak fat.  *sighs*

I will get it "plain" - unless they do mushrooms and onions on the side? 

Any other suggestions?  Thanks, y'all!

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Well I like to sacrfice a goat in the name of Landrumm2000 before I go, but other than that, it sounds like you've got a pretty decent game plan.

[JennyUptown]

You can (and should) call ahead to reserve "butchers' cuts" which includes hanger steaks. They sell out.

[HORSEPLAY]

Will be making my first trip to Ray's soon!  Snagged a Saturday night reservation for a few weeks from now.  I'm thinking to order the scallops and the key lime pie.  I really like the taste of a meaty, beefy steak so I hope I can order the hanger steak.  Does hanger steak have any fat along the edge, a la NY strip?  I love the taste of charred steak fat.  *sighs*

I will get it "plain" - unless they do mushrooms and onions on the side? 

Any other suggestions?  Thanks, y'all!

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Dude, you like the taste of meaty, beefy steak? Get the cowboy cut. You'll be tasting long time. It took me an hour at least to finish. But every bite was worth it. And can anyone tell me who that hunk in the Red Sock cap is cooking?

[Gastro888]

Thanks, JennyUptown! I'll call today and ask them to make a note along with my reservation. I wonder if that will be jumping the gun...considering I'm not going for a few more weeks.

What's the difference between their hanger steak and cowboy cut? I thought a cowboy cut is just a really large piece of ribeye. I really enjoy a steak that has a good, rich, beefy flavor to it with some fat on the edge. From my understanding a hanger steak sounds more lean. Is this correct or am I off base?

Horseplay, if it took you an hour to finish it I'm kinda screwed b/c I'm a slow eater! When I made the reservation, I was told they'd need the table back in 90 minutes. If the cowboy cut is that big how am I going to eat the scallops and the key lime pie?

Hmm...must take someone who can help me finish the food....

Do they do mushrooms and onions on the side?

[mnebergall]

The hanger steak does not have any layers of fat like the ribeye or the strip steak. Actually, Michael does a very good job of trimming the edge fat from most of his steaks. I don't recall his strips having that characteristic layer of fat along one edge. And the ribeyes are well trimmed as well. My favarite is the 20 oz strip, black and bleu.

They do have mushrooms and the carmelized red oninons availabe on the side. Consider getting the crumbled blue cheese.

I always have leftovers and they put the leftovers in one of those styrofoam clamshell containers and giv eyou extrra mashed potatoes and creamed spinich.

[Gastro888]

Thanks, mnebergall. Hangar steaks are hard to find in the area so I may go for that but depending on the feedback I get on cowboy cut we'll have to see.

Great, definitely getting the mushrooms and onions on the side. Crumbled blue cheese on steak? Never had it before. I really want to taste the steak and I'm wondering if the blue cheese would overpower the meat.

Oh, wow. That's really nice of them to do that. Man, I'll definitely have to bump up my workouts so that I can dig in at Ray's.

I wonder if I can get the hot chocolate...

[mnebergall]

It's hangEr, not hangAr. A hangar is a type of building in which one stores aircraft. A hanger steak is so named because, I think, it 'hangs' between some internal organs. I think there is an eGullet thread devoted to the critter. An even more unusual steak you might want to consider is the flatiron, which is on the menu, but also one that he runs out of. Very beefy flavor, but has some of the tenderness of the filet.

[Gastro888]

I'll check into the flatiron. Thanks.

Excuse the mispelling, I had only heard of the cut while persuing the forums.

Gee, where were you when I was taking ESL.

[rhodegirl]

From Sunday's Washington Post Metro section, a fun story for Ray's the Steaks fans who also happen to be baseball fans:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...3-2005Mar5.html

<After sitting down at Ray's the Steaks on Wilson Boulevard, they started picking about 9:15 p.m. Lemke used the first pick to take the Nats' home opener, against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 14.>

(The story is off topic, but I thought egulleters would be interested in the reference to Ray's since it is the setting for much of the story. Plus, the photo shows Ray's welcomes Red Sox fans, which is good to know. )

[bigbear]

My wife and I were in the D.C. area for a few days and we tried to hit a couple of the places that I have been reading about on this board. We went for burgers, BBQ, Mexican and steaks. Only two places blew our hair back.....Taqueria Poblano and Ray's The Steaks.

About 45 or 50 years ago, my father first introduced me to the pleasure of a good piece of beef at Peter Luger's in Brooklyn, so Michael (now clean shaven) Landrum wasn't gettin' my cherry. The medium-rare piece of dead, animal flesh that I had at RTS was great. I wasn't hungry (still stuffed from lunch) and I still relished every bite. The sides were great too. Thank you, Michael.

[jparrott]

The. Most. Aged. Tasting. Steak. Ever. Last night. Major league yummers.

[DonRocks]

[All comments about Tom's chat / Ray's from today have been moved into the "Tom Sietsema's Online Chat" thread. Cheers! Rocks.]

[bookluvingbabe]

I've been thinking/daydreaming/drooling over the prospect of the Silver Spring Ray's lately.

Can I put in a vote for Sunday lunch????

Please??????????????????????????????

We're in the area most Sundays and it would be real nice to trundle over for a nice lunch. Perhaps we might see a return of the storied burger???? (I didn't get myself over to Virginia until after the burger was history...Sigh...)

Thanks!

Jennifer

[mnebergall]

And I wonder if he will reprise the Devilishly Good Eggs (deviled eggs stuffed with hand-chopped steak tartar).

[fero style]

you want to rent an apartment. the leasing office tells you there is only 12 months`( 1 type) renting available. your lease ends the exact same day next year. say it january 1st you move in the apartment , you must leave the apartment on the same day next year. can you move out january 2nd ? yes you can (if you havent done anypacking before , which points the `becoming late to a reservation at a restaurant), but you have to pay the penalty fee of `being late` $500.

unfortunately , there is no restaurant I know that charges you a penalty if you were told to leave in a time frame and you are late. but leasing offices can do that, not the restaurants.

my point is every business establishments have their own rules. you dont like the rules or they are not suitable for you , you can go some other place. if you dont want to pay $30,000 for a mercedes , you can go to honda and pay $25,000 for a different model.

Don`t like the rules ? go somewhere else.

You don`t like the rules but still go ? complaining wont make any sense.

Ray`s has some rules , and Ray`s rules.

[morela]

The Washingtonian wrote a something about deviled eggs and the headline is "devilishly good" and Ray's isn't there. This hurts.

[bookluvingbabe]

8 hours until scallops....

8 hours until scallops....

8 hours until scallops...

My boss has this odd idea I should be concentrating on work...But how can I when a trip to Ray's is so close and yet so far away????

Jennifer

[bookluvingbabe]

Another fine evening at Ray's on Friday night.

Scallops, hanger steaks, chocolate mousse, cava and pinot noir. What isn't there to like?

The best part (aside from the amazing food...)????

The food was splendid and I don't think Michael was in the kitchen!

I'm always happy to see that, especially in small places.

Service was fine, although I wish they would notice empty wine glasses a smidgen sooner. But that's mostly trivial and I had a second glass of cava by the time I had moved on to the second scallop.

Time to call for another reservation!!!!

Jennifer

[docsconz]

Speaking of calling for a reservation... I've been trying to do that and have been getting a somewhat garbled message. I gather that the time for calling to make a reservation is limited, but after five or six tries (obviously not at the right time ) I have not been able to make it out? Can anyone tell me the best way to make a reservation there and what their reservation policy is?