Ray's The Steak

I must admit that my most recent trip to Washington D.C. was a bit of a food disappointment. We arrived late in the evening only to find that our hotel reservation had been switched to an 'express' which did not have a restaurant or room service. Thus forcing us to walk around an unknown area until we ran into a random greasy, yet organic (?), diner. And I'm sure you all read about our failed lunch date at The Good Stuff Eatery. So there was a lot riding on our dinner reservations. Before I left good old Nebraska I put out a facebook plea for recommendations of D.C. dinner spots. My friend Pat sent me several establishments to look into. The one that first caught my eye was a steak house with a clever name. Ray's The Steaks. It was on the same subway line we traveled so I took this a fate and made a dinner reservation. I wasn't sure what to expect as we walked up. The restaurants designer believed in a very minimalistic approach. The sign outside was made up of simple white letters on a black backdrop placed just above the entrance. The interior matched. Classic wood floors, white walls with black accents, sleek black table tops and quality silver utensils. At first impression it seemed kinda stiff but the longer we sat there, the more comfortable we felt. The wait staff was super friendly and the whole place was filled with good conversation and laughter. We were given our menu's and a plate of bread and a bowl of spiced nuts. And what a selection! A restaurant that serves only steaks and we still had over fifty menu items to choose from. Different cuts, sizes, styles, and sauces. I was impressed to see hanger steak on the menu. A rare cut of meat that is one per cow. I was a little nervous looking over the menu as my mom is not a big steak eater. In fact it has been over 11 years since she has last had a steak. She decided on the steak salad, well done. And I eventually choose a Brazilian strip, medium rare, with a spicy deablo sauce and sauteed garlic. While we waited for our food to arrive I couldn't help but noticed how well trained the staff was. As I watched them at times they seemed choreographed they moved that smoothly among themselves. I have a feeling that this detail that made our evening so nice was completely un-noticed by the majority of the patrons there. No one ever notices when things go right, only when things go wrong with service do people pay attention. But I paid attention. Slight head nods and small hand gestures between the servers and bussers keep the tables clean, our water glasses full and the dinning room floor relatively clear of traffic. Our food arrived in a timely manner and it too was minimalisticly plated. In fact the only thing on my plate was my steak. No squiggle of sauce, no parsley, no garnish. Just a well cooked piece of meat. We were also served family style mashed potatoes and creamed spinach free of charge. Which for an upscale steak house is un heard of. My steak was thick and juicy just as I expected. What really impressed me was that my mom's well done steak was still tender and juicy. Personally I take offense to any steak that is cooked above a medium, as I feel it destroys the texture of the meat. But her steak was cooked through without being leathery and tough. The deablo sauce that came with my steak was made with spicy green chili's and a hint of cilantro. Very spicy on its own and tamed to a desirable level of heat when eating with the steak. I did find that about a third of the way through my steak I stopped using the sauce and just ate the meat because it was so well seasoned. You could taste the grill! And not in a burnt ashy way. No, what you tasted was a well seasoned cast iron flavor. The same sort of flavor that comes off of my cast iron skillet that goes three generations back. The mashed potatoes were just lumpy enough to let you know they were made from real spuds and creamy enough to not require extra butter or gravy. The only part of the meal that we didn't eat was the spinach. I thought it was a tad on the bitter side and my mom just isn't a cooked greens eater. But that didn't phase either one of us, we both had more food than we could finish. And the check? under $25 a person. As soon as we left the restaurant I sent Pat a thank you message, his recommendation was right on. A quality steak dinner in a friendly well staffed restaurant for under $25, Ray's The Steaks lives up to its name.

good stuff eatery

September has turned out to be a very busy month and has presented me with some fun, unique food opportunities. About seven years ago while donating blood I was asked if I would like to give an extra vile and be entered into the Department of Defense (DOD) national bone marrow donor program. In return for entering yourself in the program you received the rest of the day off of work, so of coarse I said yes. Being in the national bone marrow donor registry is pretty uneventful. Until you get called. I got my first call two and a half years ago. After a series of rigorous physical screening I was determined to be the closest match for a leukemia patient in need of a donation. My donation was actually for stem cells, not marrow. Which is a less painful, more precise method of treatment. Its a cleaner product that's more easily accepted by the recipient. This initial treatment lead to two more donations over two years to help stimulate the healthy growth of cells for my match. ANYWAYS, the point of telling you all this is that the donations are held in Washington D.C. Which means every year or so I get an all expense paid vacation to the nations capitol. And I take full advantage of the booming food scene there. On my first trip years ago I was super excited to visit a new restaurant opened by a favorite Top Chef contestant of mine, Spike Mendelsohn. The Good Stuff Eatery is a burger joint serving the good old favorites as well as new and interesting burger combinations. They also offer hand cut fries (with or without special seasoning), hand spun shakes and a selection of homemade dipping sauces. My first trip to the Eatery was a memorable one. We were even lucky enough to meet Spike and see him work. The burgers were large, hearty and delicious. The staff friendly and fun. It was such a memorable trip that I have gone back every time I visit D.C. However, this last trip was memorable for all the wrong reasons. I have been craving a burger from The Good Stuff Eatery for weeks now, ever since I got the call to come back. It was the first place we went when we arrived in the city. The music was unbearably loud and the place seemed ridiculously crowded. And it didn't take long to figure out why. Right inside the door in the only downstairs waiting area was a large shipment of paper products. Some boxes were even open and product taken out to be used while the rest of the boxes sat there unattended and obviously not where they belonged. There was mass confusion as you walked up to the counter, no one was sure who was in line, who was waiting for their food and who was working. There were at least four men in uniform just standing around on the customer side of the counter. Doing nothing. Being a manager myself, it was really hard for me not to tell those lazy boys to stop leaning on the wall and go put away the paper shipment. Once we finally made our way up to the counter we had to yell, literally yell, over the music to order our food. And when the cashier couldn't hear us correctly she didn't politely ask us to speak up, instead she rudely ordered us to 'talk louder'. The experience was so far from the usual I couldn't help but look around and notice the be-wildered look on the other patrons faces too. Finally we were handed a buzzer and a numbered ticket and sent to wait. The next thing we knew the rude counter girl was shouting numbers that didn't match any one's ticket. And since none of our buzzers were buzzing we all stared right back at her. Eventually (and still rudely) she informed us she was calling the numbers of the buzzers. Which left us wondering why hand out buzzers if you aren't going to use them for their intended purpose? At last we went upstairs to take our seats. Again we noticed several employees standing around. And several uncleaned tables. The only upside to this trip was that the food was still amazing. My mom and I got the same burger, A cheese burger with American and Muenster cheese, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions and 'the good stuff sauce'. And we both got hand spun shakes. Mine was a black and white (vanilla with hot fudge) and my mom got a basic chocolate shake. As we were enjoying our super calorie laden lunch we starting to get an uneasy filling. And it soon became apparent what the extra staff was for. To stare at you and make you uncomfortable so you leave sooner. All and all we spent less than a half and hour at lunch. I was left with the overall feeling that the boss was away (and had been away for a while) and his employees were not behaving as they should. At least that is what I hope was the problem. Sadly I doubt I will ever find out. If I was a D.C. resident I would surely give The Good Stuff Eatery another chance. But since I only have a few days a year to sample the D.C. food scene I won't be waisting them on another chance at a horrible experience.