Ray's Hell Burger

It was a snowy Sunday in D.C., I didn't feel like cooking, and I didn't feel like going anywhere, the urge to drive somewhere and take shots with my new lens gave me the required energy to eat a burger. Ray's Hell Burger, or heck burger, or whatever it's called opened up in the Summer of 2008 right next to Ray's The Steaks, these are more of your local, not going to find this in a frommers, or on a travel show kind of places. Ray's Classic in Maryland, however you may see and have heard about.

Ray's Hell Burger is a special kind of burger, the butcher shop is on site, and is shared by the steak restaurant that shares the name. I can't tell you the exact meat that goes in or the ratio of meat and fat, although I am sure it's something like 85/15 or 80/20, whatever it is, it works. Burgers are ordered A La Carte, you start with simple burger and bun for 6.95, want cheese, ok, they range from your normal American and White Cheddar for 1.00, and go up to Epoisse (eh-pau) for $5.00. Now with the cheeses covered you can move onto other burger toppings, Foie Gras? Truffle Oil? Sure! Bacon and Ham? you can see from above Absolutely! Would you like your burger grilled Cajun style? Why yes, they do that do, want it cooked in cracked black pepper, of course. You can pretty much get whatever you want on the burger, however, and this is a big however, NO FRENCH FRIES!!!! Hold your overwhelming shock and comments for later. Ray's does offer sides, mac and cheese, and what they call cheesy tots, I had both, both were excellent in their own right. The mac and cheese was particularly good due to the fact copious amounts of cheese and white pepper was involved in the cooking, and then the tots were worth the $2.00 we spent on them, anything fried is good. Now back to this no french fry thing, how in the Hell (ha get how I worked that in there?) can you have a burger without fries? I know I can't, however once I saw the burger, and tasted the mac and cheese, the need for something else fried quickly went out the window.

When Liz and I went on Sunday, the weather was horrible and the line was pretty much to the door, seating is very limited, and during the busy times, next to impossible to get, you also are warned about sitting down before you order, also there is no website, the menu I found was from Flickr, it isn't mine so I am not posting it. My burger was cooked to perfection, although they missed the Cajun seasoning, they made up for in the Ray's Heck Sauce, don't know what it was, but enjoyed it, I don't ask questions when the line is backed up. I don't fault the staff for forgetting to dip my burger in spice, I know I will be back to enjoy it again.

A few concerns, parking is horrendous, even at 6 on a Sunday night in the middle of a snow storm (yes, it's that good) and I would have enjoyed a fried egg on my burger, and if someone from Ray's is reading this, which is a long shot, consider it, I'd pay another $1.50 for a fried egg.

On my scale of burger's where does this rank? Tough, the style is more of a burger joint, if that is the case, In-N-Out, White Manna, Ray's Hell Burger. Best burger I have had in D.C. at a Burger Joint? Yes, best burger I have had in the world? sadly no, however when I need a good burger fix, and since I do not have a grill, Ray's will get the call. Flickr set here


Location-

Ray's Hell Burger

1713 Wilson Blvd.

Arlington, VA 22209

703-841-0001



Metro - Blue Line - Rosslyn and walk down Wilson Blvd.

Orange Line - Courthouse, and walk down Wilson Blvd.



Tip - Try taking the metro if all possible, parking is a nightmare, also expect a wait, doesn't matter when you go. Don't bother looking for a website, it doesn't exist, and they serve BURGERS!!!

Chima - Yes Please

Chima isn't a new experience for me, I have been there four times now, if you are familiar with Fogo De Chao, then you understand the concept here. However, if you are not familiar with Fogo let me break it down for you. You get a little button like you see in the picture above, there are two sides, Yes please, or No (I don't like No). If your card happens to fall on Yes, then you are thrown down a "Meat Gauntlet" as I call it. Men trained in Brazil for at least two years wield knives and meat in a symphony of everything good. These god like meat creatures offer you everything from Pork crusted in Parmesan cheese, to swordfish and basically everything in between. There is a salad bar, although why bother in a place like this, however the beef carpiacchio is clutch.

Chima is more of an experience than a place to eat, for what it's worth, I can't think of a better way to spend $47.50 or whatever they charge now for dinner. The meat is delivered to you on a spike, cut in front of you table side, and you can order it how you like it, rare-well done, I could care less, they know how to cook meat. The servers like I mentioned above, also tend to your meat products, each one specializes in one type or cut of meat. One person handles the sausage and chicken, one for pork and so on, so they know what they are doing when it comes to cooking. My favorite of the night was the new filet wrapped in bacon, truthfully, anything wrapped in bacon is good, the pork Parmesan also on this evening kept getting better as the night went on, usually it is dry as pork tends to get dry when cooking it, also tops was the chicken wrapped in bacon of course, and then I guess the ribeye. The fish can be hit or miss, and the salad bar is nice to look at, but I am a man, and when I go here, I eat meat. Chances are you don't have a Chima where you are, but you may have a Fogo, if so, they are pretty much the same and have the same menus, if you are anything like me, you'll enjoy it, I know I did, and I will continue to give Chima my hard earned money. Flickr set here

Location:

Chima Brazilian Steakhouse

8010 Towers Crescent Dr.

Tyson's Corner-Vienna, Virginia 22182

202-595-7755

http://www.chima.cc/index.cfm

Metro - West falls church to Mall, and then walk

Tip - Make reservations ahead of time, and sign up for mailing list, sometimes they have buy one get one free coupons.