ray's 'n shit

After hours of hanging out with my mom and other guests (Angel blogged about it and has cute pics of Jim playing) on Mother's Day, Jim and I cleaned up the loft and realized we had a lot of ice left over. Knowing it wouldn't fit in our already-overflowing freezer, we decided to mix up some daquiris and get roaring drunk. We were missing a few ingredients, so we headed over to see Ray at the Old Bank Market & Deli.

While I was sick last week, Jim picked up some orange juice and blogged about Ray's expanding into the space next door, but I hadn't seen the new space yet. I also hadn't seen Ray in a long while, so we hugged and caught up. He was so excited about the expansion and told us that in a month, he'll have everything a grocery store should have - fresh meat, vegetables, a liquor section (we found what we needed for our daquiris), etc.

Then Ray dropped the best news about downtown development that I'd heard in a long time, "You know, I also got the place across the street and the parking lot. I'm going to open a casual, full-service restaurant and turn part of the parking lot into an open-air patio." We looked across the street at the old Burgers 'N Shit, (which was also sushi 'n shit for a nanosecond). Ray was beaming as he told us of his plans, and he continued, "We're going to serve breakfast and we'll be open until midnight."


Photo courtesy of Jim Winstead

Ray was smiling from ear to ear, as he usually is, but he was so excited about his expansion into the new space and his new restaurant venture that it was contagious. I was practically jumping up and down with joy when I hugged him in congratulations. I feel safe in predicting that the patio of Ray's restaurant will be the place to dine and hang out when it opens (this summer?). I know Jim and I will be there. I can hardly wait!