White Tablecloth Dining at Ray's the Classics in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland

A Meat Eater's Heaven

Ray's the Classics is the newest entry in white tablecloth dining in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. I could tell you a lot about this restaurant but wait-

AC must be really weary of its opinionated writers because it recently asked us to incorporate quotes from others who dined with us in our restaurant reviews. Humpf! Aren't our opinions respected anymore? Never mind. AC wants me to tell you what my family members said about Ray's the Classics, so I will.

My nine year old daughter: "I didn't really like the mashed potatoes... because they caused my spill."

See, if she hadn't been reaching for those errant mashed potatoes, her iced tea wouldn't have landed in her lap. With Cindy huddled in my sweater dripping tea, those mashed potatoes didn't stand a chance at a thumbs-up rating.

The macaroni and cheese with four different cheeses was obscenely rich. The oldest and the youngest child said it was "great"; the middle child said, "It tastes funny," and refused to eat a second bite.

The sugar packets on the table at Ray's the Classics were immensely popular. We were about to file a police report, declaring our whole table's worth stolen, when we spotted a stack of empty packets next to my son's glass. Every single sugar packet in the tray went into that iced tea, and he said "it still isn't sweet enough." When we asked for more sugar so our daughters could sweeten their iced tea, we had to hold him back so the second tray didn't disappear.

As you can now visualize, our family is immensely popular in white table cloth restaurants. We save them a lot of money they would otherwise spend hiring entertainment.

The bread at Ray's the Classics was doughy dinner rolls, reminiscent of pull-apart bread, with olive oil for dipping. The kids were too busy scarfing it to tell us what they thought of it, but they did ask us to request more bread, twice. My husband did not care for the raw dough taste. Me? Oh yeah, I'm the silent diner.