Ray’s The Steaks

In my first review I wrote that steak is the only reason to dine at Ray’s.

I was wrong.

The blackened scallops are amazing... the best I’ve ever had. Start with a sherried crab bisque and continue with the scallops, and you can have a wonderful meal at Ray’s without ever touching beef.

Not that I’d want to, of course, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Oh, and the steak: just like last time, perfect. A word I never use. I’m changing my rating to 9, noise be damned, the food is just that good.

6/10/05: Darnit, I really wish they’d do somehing about the noise. Went again recently and the food was — and I never use this word — perfect. Small filet mignon, garlic mashed potatoes, and creamed spinach (which I usually hate). And Michael Landrum (the owner) wasn’t working the kitchen; one of his chef trainees was! Which bodes well for the new place, Ray’s Classic, which Landrum says he hopes will open in September.

I’d rate Ray’s at 10 if only it wasn’t so damn noisy in there.

5/5/04 update: I’ve been back three times since my original review. I’m downgrading it to a 7 because service can vary from enthusiastic to careless. The steak still rocks, though.

[original review 8/21/2003 folows] Steak, steak, and more steak.

I’m pleased to report that if you want a truly excellent steak, but don’t want to put up with the pretention or expense or general hassle of the big chain steakhouses, or if Outhouse Steakhouse doesn’t meet your definition of ’truly excellent’, then you have another option. Ray’s the Steaks is a straightforward, casual, and noisy bistro in a strip mall off Wilson Blvd in Arlington, which is its only drawback — it’s a pain in the patootie to get to. The menu lists just a few first courses, including a few salads and a soup and something involving salmon. For your main course, you have your choice of steak, from New York strip to rib eye to filet mignon, to chateaubriand. You can dress up the meat in many ways, like peppercorn and port wine sauce, or add blue cheese, or mushrooms, and so on. Small skillets of mashed potatoes and creamed spinach are served regardless of what steak you order. The creamed spinach was excellent; actually, it was the first time ever in my life that I’ve enjoyed spinach that was cooked longer than a minute. The staff are kind enough to present you with a written explanation of the restaurant’s raison d’etre, including just what kind of cow you’re about to eat, and their definitions of doneness. It’s worth taking a few minutes to read.

There’s a short wine list, which surprisingly doesn’t focus on reds. But from what little I know of wines, most of the whites would stand up to most of the steak preparations. Many of the wines are available by the glass. Ray’s has a surprisingly weak selection of beer. If I remember correctly, they had yucky old American pisswater, Guinness stout, and one ale from Dominion.

If you find yourself here because your friends pulled you along, but you don’t want steak, you have one or two options, but I forgot to note what they are. Just keep in mind that there is no reason to choose to eat here if you want anything else.

For dessert there’s a pretty good Key lime pie, several different chocolate mousses, and usually a fruit pie of some sort. Last night it was a very good blueberry.

Reservations are recommended. The place is always full, according to the hostess.

I’ve finally found an alternative to Morton’s, to which I shall not return... except as Vijay noted, they do have hot Godiva chocolate cake.

Absolutely wonderful steak. Cooked just the way I wanted. Good sides. Other steaks and sauces (hey, ya gotta try some of your friends’ food, too) were also most excellent. A much, much better quality of steak than you’ll find at the chain steakhouses (Outback/Longhorn/Lonestar) and none of the pretense you’ll find at the posher, clubbier steakhouses (Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris, Smith & Wollensky).

The noise level was painful. Bare concrete walls, bare wooden tables, and wooden chairs. Painful enough that I will not soon return. And I love steak.

Steak doesn’t really do it for me- I’ll state that upfront. It is rare that I crave steak. So, I have to be in a truly rare mood to fully appreciate Ray’s for what it is, which is Very Good- at steak.

Filet au poivre hits the spot quite nicely, and you will make them happy if you order it medium rare. Doneness is determined by temperature, not by color, so you have to be prepared for that. Medium rare could well be much redder than you’ve ever had it before, due to the breed of cattle and depending on the season.

With every meal comes mashed potates and creamed spinach for the table, served in little cast iron skillets. The potatoes are truly tasty, and the creamed spinach is quite good for creamed spinach- but still, what a terrible thing to do to good spinach. I ate it anyway, because I couldn’t help myself- I love spinach, and will apparantly even consume creamed spinach if it contains good spinach.

The staff is perky if flaky, but the space would be served well by some acoustic damping. They need to hang a rug on the wall, or something- it can get truly loud there, especially as they are almost always full of people.

Like steak? Don’t like pretentious, price-gouging steakhouses? You need to head out to Arlington and have a meal at Ray’s. You won’t find wood paneling, valets, lobster, or $400 wines here, but you will find meat that’s the equal of any of the large chain expense-account steak places. I don’t know how they succeed when so many other places don’t, but I don’t care. It’s delicious and it’s a steal.

Sadly, another thing you won’t find at Ray’s is quiet; the acoustics are just awful. The space is narrow and all the walls are hard, so conversation has to take place in a near-shout that echoes throughout the restaurant. Ray’s loses a point just for that; this fatal flaw limits dinner to a steak expedition, when restaurants are good for so many other social occasions.

Still — it’s worth it even if you can’t hear your companions. The meat is terrific. If they’d just hang some heavy cloth on the walls, Ray’s would be a real gem.