best in town. [update (4/23/2011): the mrs. got a chicago dog today, and ray ray's appears to have corrected two of my complaints about that particular item. neon green relish? check. crispy (new-ish) pickle spear? check. unfortunately, the mrs. is rather pregnant at the moment and, valuing my life, i didn't try to sneak a bite. i will correct that soon.]
ray ray's is, hands down, the best place in town to curb your craving for chicago's signature sandwich (at least until you can get back down there). i went here on the strength of a recommendation from sw michigan dining (http://wp.me/pfkm2-h1), a gazette review (http://bit.ly/apamkz), and a surprisingly high volume of buzz on the twitter over the past few weeks. because i couldn't quite decide on what to get, the wife and i splt a series of things (there are "some' leftovers) -- the itallian beef & sausage combo w/ pepper & onions and hot peppers, a chicago dog, a cheeseburger deluxe, and an order of fries. it was all good, but for the sake of an order, i'll start with my least favorite and work up.
the chicago dog. when done correctly, this is one of my all-time favorite foods. ray ray's was good, but not great; and i was a little surprised by that given the balance of the meal. it comes down to ingredients. poppy seed bun? check. nice mustard? check. sport peppers and tomato wedges? check and check. now, here's where things started to go a little sideways (i'm guessing as a consequence of what is and what is not available from a local food supplier). vienna beef dog? i don't think so, but maybe. the dog was good, but a vienna beef has a distinct flavor that can't be duplicated and i didn't taste that here. i didn't think to look for a vienna beef sign when i was there (or to ask for that matter), but i'm 90% sure it wasn't. neon green relish? nope. generic, run-of-the-mill relish. yes, the color matters both because the color simply does matter and because that neon green relish also has a distinctive flavor that other relishes don't. crispy pickle spear? nope. generic, rather soggy, pickle spear supplemented with (and this was a first for me) cucumber slices which helped in the texture department, but wasn't quite the same. all together, it was a good hot dog, about on par with most of the other chicago dog offerings in town (maybe a little better); but, it wasn't a standout and it wasn't what i was hoping for -- a "real" chicago dog right here in town.
next up, the burger. i had intended to get a meatball sand here, but they were out of meatballs. my last minute sub was a cheeseburger deluxe. this was actually quite good. would i go here for the burger alone? maybe. the burger was nice, the toppings were nice, the bun was nice, and together it was better than the vast majority of the burger options in town. so, yeah, all told, i actually liked it pretty well.
the penultimate item in this lttle hierarchy of goodness are the fries. they were, honestly, great. probably the best in town (just ahead of penn station). couple of things to factor in here. first, i just went to five guys in chicagoland last week; five guys fries are probably the best fries i've ever had in my life next to in-n-out; so, i'm a little tainted. second, i didn't do these fries justice. i figured they were gonna be good when i got them in the car. problem is that my house is a solid 20-minute drive from ray ray's (even when driving "briskly"), so by the time i ate them, they were a little past their prime. even still -- even though i had just had five guys and even though i took them on a driving tour of greater kalamazoo -- they were unbelivably good. this is an item worth going here for all by itself.
finally, that brings me to ray ray's crowning achievement -- it's name sake -- italian beef and sausage. let me start off by saying that i got a "combo" because i was trying to sample as much of the menu as possible. i wouldn't ordinarly recommend this, and i won't be doing it again; but that's only because they were so good, i wouldn't want to have them stepping on each other like that again. the roll was absolutely fantastic. the gravy was delicious. the sausage was stunning. and the italian beef, well, frankly, it was unbelivable. best i've had outside of chicago -- ever. the peppers and onions were o.k., not great; the hot peppers were what they should've been. but that italian beef...wow.
all in all, i was very pleased and we'll be back again soon. highly, highly recommended.