Ray's....

No, not the canoe livery in Grayling, Michigan, nor the actor from Everybody Loves…., it’s the restaurant in Kelso, Missouri.

After our day of driving finishing with water lapping at the wheels of the MOMSTER, we crossed the Mighty Mississippi and arrived in Jackson, Missouri, home of FOJTY and MFOJTY. They are attending SEMO (in Cape Girardeau) and hence are living in the nearby town of Jackson. It’s pretty rural there, about two and a half hours south of the Biggest Little City in the Midwest and our former home, St. Louis. We pulled into the motel under some threatening skies.



After resting a bit, the FOJTY’s picked us up and gave us a nice tour of the Campus of SEMO (South East Missouri (MO)) State University. It is a surprisingly large campus for an “outstate” institution, and is home to around 11,000 students. After the tour, we headed south and turned off on Highway 61 (revisited), into the little town of Kelso. FOJTY had done some research and discovered a restaurant called Ray’s of Kelso. Turns out that there has been a presence of “Ray’s” since the current editions father opened a drive-in in 1964, which was about the first in the area to make Pizza. When the Interstate 55 was completed, so was their business, so they opened a restaurant out of their home in ’67 and added steak to the menu. Ray’s Steak and Pizza remained a fixture for a long time, and when the original Ray passed, his son moved into an old bank building and has been operating it as a restaurant since. Besides the restaurant they have outdoor seating and a separate house for large parties.

The interior reminds you it is a bank with high ceilings, and even the vault (which you can dine in) and the ample walls are decorated with pieces of art. Servers are dressed in white shirts and black vests, a welcoming touch. Tables have no cloths, but each placemat has a brief historical sketch of the place. We were seated in sort of a booth in the front, a nice table. Soon after we were seated we were approached by a server younger than most, and she led off with the dreaded full blown “Hi I’m…care of you” speech. I thought oh, boy, here we go.

Well, wrongo oh parochial bottom feeder. Aside from a few gaffes in service which I put down to inexperience, it was a pretty impressive restaurant. The menu is varied and complete for any appetite and taste. Of course they feature steak in three cuts (filet, strip, and ribeye from seven to twenty ounces) plus a porterhouse (one and a quarter pounds) and 20 ounces of Chateaubriand for two carved tableside. They also offer a pepper steak and an Oscar version. Aside from the beef centric, there are also the (famous) pizzas, as well as a good selection of other things. Like veal piccata, Wienerschnitzel, lamb and pork chops, free range chicken in many preparations, vegetarian options, and many seafood choices, such as mahi mahi, grouper, shrimp, scallops, and even lobster as tails or in ravioli. Appetizers are many, including crab cakes (lump blue crab), baked Brie and grapes, stuffed portabellas, shrimp cocktails and sweet potato fries. Prices for the apps were generally under nine, and entrees varied depending on the size of your appetite for steak, and the other options generally very low twenties to under. Lobster tails a bit more. We decided on wine instead of drinks and the wine list was equally surprising to me as it contained some very nice selections at reasonable prices. Both new and old world were represented. Things like a Paul Hobbs Chardonnay and Talley Pinot showed up and we selected an ‘07 Catena Malbec (from Argentina).

In short, the menu was much more impressive than I expected. While we were pondering our choices, Ray showed up a the next table to carve a Chateaubriand. It arrived on a cutting board, sizzling, and he drenched it with (something) which was then flambéed to caramelize further. Of course he had a shtick while carving but it wasn’t meant for the whole room (as it is in our nearby Jerry’s). Our wine was brought to the table by another server (my guess driven by age for serving alcohol) and he did a nice job of presenting.

Finally we all decided on our food. MFO and I split a shrimp cocktail, FOJTY and MFOJ got an order of the sweet potato fries. For main courses, I figured one should dance with the horse they rode in on, and took the diminutive 13 oz. ribeye medium rare, with choiced sides of a Caesar salad (extra cost) and “loaded” baked potato, MFO did the lobster ravioli (Tender chunks of Lobster, minced Shallots, Cream, and Manchego cheese, topped with sautéed Snow Pea Pods, Baby pencil Carrots, Onions, and Mushrooms, Garnished with our Alfredo sauce and minced Pistachios) along with a baby spinach salad), MFOJTY selected the “Californian” pizza which was also loaded (Fresh sliced Tomatoes, Spinach, Artichoke hearts, Scallions,Mushrooms, Bell Pepper, Onions and Black Olives with Fresh herbs and our 5-Cheese Italiano blend. (a no sauce base Pizza)). And FOJTY being a growing boy, took all twenty ounces of a ribeye, and a special asparagus side.

As this is (as usual) getting out of hand we’ll cut to the chase. All of the food was very good. My Caesar salad was crisp, with a nice tangy dressing and yes, an anchovy was atop. All other salads were large and good. Our steaks were cooked just right and actually tasted like steaks (advertised as Prime CAB). The pizza was covered with the items above. MFO thought all the stuff on the ravioli was a bit much, but none the less enjoyed it. The FOJTY’s enjoyed a Crème Brule.

Our server (again inexperienced I hope) seemed to check on us too often and at odd times, kept wanting me to “keep my fork” between courses – I refused and was given a whole new service wrapped in a napkin, cleared the other three plates and asked if they wanted a box while I was still eating my steak, and wanted to know if we wanted the check half way through dessert..

But, as I ALWAYS point out the above observations are only noted as an objective evaluation. We had a wonderful time with our son and his wife, and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Valuable time together..too little of it..

Ray’s was a very pleasant find (thank you FOJTY), and for you STL dwellers who want to have a nice weekend getaway from the bustle, you might consider making a pleasant drive for dinner (reservations highly recommended at Ray’s) and stay over in the country. It’s not a chain, the customers were friendly and DFD’d. And you will want to stay over after I tell you about our breakfast the next morning..

And most people were

DFD