The New York Times‘ investigation of the commercial beef industry has consumed much of Y&H’s attention this week. First, I solicited a couple of burger men to give their opinions on the differences between commercial ground beef and gourmet ground beef. Then, I asked those with a less-vested interest in the subject— readers, in other words — for their thoughts.

Y’all had some good thoughts, like Jamie’s:

Read More “Readers Respond to Ground-Beef Gate” »

 Michael Landrum, the man who put the meat into the Ray’s mini-empire, has never been shy about telling the world about the superiority of his beef.  The New York Times‘ investigation of the commercial ground-beef industry gave him another chance to do more of the same.

Landrum responded to three of the four questions posed by Y&H in the wake of the investigation. I asked Landrum — and BGR’s Mark Bucher before him — to try to alleviate public fears by explaining the differences between commercial ground beef and their ground beef.

Y&H: What was your overall impression of the Times‘ piece and what do you think it will mean for ground beef and burger sales in the future?

Landrum: Didn’t see the piece, so I can’t comment on question 1.  Read More “Michael Landrum Makes His Case for Gourmet Burgers in the Face of the Times’ Investigation” »

Y&H does some side work for Askmen.com, but this week he took a break and asked Michael Landrum to step in and recommend a few manly places for the site’s D.C. readership. Obviously, that was too humdrum a task for Landrum. He went ahead and wrote an essay about “how to be a man in a restaurant.” It involves tipping generously. Very generously.

Sample lines from Landrum:  “Tip to the point beyond fear and, like a roller coaster ride, be prepared for an experience more exhilarating and rewarding than you could have previously imagined or hoped for. Do not make the mistake of tipping what you think the person deserves; instead, tip based on the man you want to be — and you will be taken for that man. Remember, though, that the equation works both ways. There are many things that reveal the difference between a man and a punk — and being cheap will always make you a punk.”

You can imagine the shitstorm this has started over at Askmen.com. Let me quote just a few of the comments Landrum’s essay has generated:

Read More “Michael Landrum Pisses Off Askmen Readers with His Strategies on Tipping” »

The evidence of Mark Slater’s move to Ray’s the Steaks can be found all around the host stand at this Arlington steakhouse. Cases of wine are stacked everywhere — on the floor, on chairs, on top of wine cabinets — as if the place should actually be called Ray’s the Glass.  (Capital Spice gets all the credit for that one.)

I’m not very orthodox when it comes to wine pairings, as you might tell from this post. If you can find a good Gewürz that pairs well with steak — good luck with that — then I say knock yourself out. You won’t hear a peep from me. So I was reviewing the damn fine wine menu at Ray’s, trying to find something new (or new to me) that would pair with my ribeye with horseradish cream sauce.

Given those flavors, I figured I’d need a wine big enough to swallow Michael Moore. And the last thing I wanted was another California cab that tastes like someone poured Mexican vanilla into a bucket of fermented blackberry juice. I clearly needed Slater’s help.

Read More “‘Two Left Feet’ for One Big Steak” »

This blog has gone to Hell, and readers are taking Select 55 with it. For Christ’s sake, people, can we get over this Budweiser post, which tops the list for the third straight week?

The most-read items for the week:

1. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
2. Not So Fast: There’s No Deal for a Ray’s Hell Burger in Adams Morgan
3. No Hell Burger for Adams Morgan, but a Ray’s the Steaks for NE
4. Did Vidalia Use “Inferior” Ingredients During Restaurant Week?
5. Drool List: Pizzeria Paradiso at Dupont Circle
   

Adams Morgan may have to wait — as in forever — for a Ray’s Hell Burger, but Northeast D.C. will have to drum their fingers only ’til this fall for the debut of Ray’s the Steaks at East River, says owner Michael Landrum.

When WaPo first announced RTS@ER, it was known as Ray’s the Heat, but Landrum decided to change the name as a sort of official notice to the neighborhood, which restaurateurs have historically neglected like an ugly stepchild. The name-change, Landrum says, is “a signal to that community that they’re getting my A property.”

Read More “No Hell Burger for Adams Morgan, but a Ray’s the Steaks for NE” »

One by one, we’re running through the 50 restaurants that made the cut on this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. If you have visited the day’s featured restaurant, let us know what you think. If you’re planning to visit for the first time, tell us about your meal when you return.

With each passing month, you can just feel maverick meat man Michael Landrum inching closer to mainstream respectability. First, it was his decision to move Ray’s the Steaks to a spacious spot in the Navy League building, more than doubling his previous capacity. Then it was his bold move to lure sommelier Mark Slater away from Citronelle. Finally, it was Landrum’s quasi-brown-nose behavior when Barack Obama and Joe Biden visited Ray’s Hell Burgers earlier this year. Of course, as Landrum would be the first to point out, none of these things actually define him or speak to his operating philosophies. Truth is, Landrum continues to subvert the expense-account mindset of most steakhouses at his Arlington flagship, where you can slice into a well-aged, charred-to-your-liking steak at a fraction of the price of those downtown meat emporiums.

Ray’s the Steaks, 2300 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, (703) 841-7297

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

…Melissa Castro at the Washington Business Journal has dug up a juicy, mouth-watering, medium-rare bit of news (requires subscription to read full text) on Z-Burger, whose founder has been caught Tweeting about his chain under the names of Elevation Burger and Ray’s Hell Burger, two of Z’s major competitors.

I guess if you don’t have organic beef, steakhouse cuts, or some other selling point (“The president ate here!”), you can always turn to disinformation campaigns on Twitter. Reports Castro:

We all know what President Barack Obama’s burger runs did for the competitive burger market in Washington. But the burger wars actually started before that, when the founder of Z-Burger was caught Tweeting about his chain using fake online personas of two of his rivals, Elevation Burger and Ray’s Hell Burger.

Masquerading under the Elevation Burger persona on social networking site Twitter, the Z-Burger founder allegedly Tweeted: “I’m going to eat at Z-Burger for lunch today.” The public messages were discovered by an Elevation Burger vendor.

Read More “Z-Burger Founder Tweets Under Competitors’ Names; BGR to Compete in Burger Summit” »

One by one, over the next several weeks, we’ll run through the 50 restaurants that made the cut on this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. If you have visited the day’s featured restaurant, let us know what you think. If you’re planning to visit for the first time, tell us how your meal was when you return.

When you get tired of waiting in line for a Ray’s Hell Burger, head over to BGR: The Burger Joint in Bethesda. You can bite into what is the most consistent burger blend among the new generation of fast-casual patty peddlers. No matter what burger you desire, you can be sure you’re getting a taste of four different cuts of prime, dry-aged beef. Some of the other burger joint operators probably don’t even know what dry-aged beef is.

Addendum: BGR founder Mark Bucher told Y&H this week that he will be expanding to Dupont Circle this fall.

Ever since President Obama and his daughters visited the Dairy Godmother on Saturday, business at the Del Ray custard shop has increased by 20 percent, enough that owner Liz Davis has had to add extra staff to some shifts. Davis, however, thinks the worst is yet to come.

“My guess is that it’s this weekend when it’s going to hit,” says Davis, a Culinary Institute of America graduate and former pastry chef who opened Dairy Godmother eight years ago.

But here’s the thing: Davis doesn’t want to alter her business plan, or expand her brand, like Michael Landrum had to do following the president and vice president’s run to Ray’s Hell Burger in May. She’s content running her small independent shop at its current volume.

Read More “Dairy Godmother’s Owner Doesn’t Want the Obama Bump That Ray’s Hell Burger Got” »