Ray's Original Buffalo Wings

5424 S 36th St (inside the Lemon Drop Bar)
402.884.5300
M-T: Closed
W-Sat: 11 am - 9 pm
Sunday: 12 pm - 7 pm
www.rayswings.com

All through January I had been hearing a radio commercial for the re-opening of this joint, a place that the commercial exclaimed was an Omaha favorite. I'd never heard of Ray's until these annoying commercials (I've heard this style of commercial before for another company, where the story is told through an inner monologue that repeats what the outer monologue says, but in a "funny" voice; it must be a stock "script" one of the local media companies has for commercials they produce; if you are a business owner looking to advertise, please avoid this style. All that said, it worked on me - I walked into the joint) and with the claims they made there, I decided to give it a shot.

I did a little research and found that they were, in fact, a pretty popular place in the 1990s, somewhere around the 96th and Q area (OWH, 11/6/14) but was closed because life and all that entails happened to the owners. Now they're back up and running in a quintessential South Omaha Neighborhood bar.

The set up there is not your usual one: you place, pay, and later pick up your order at a counter that is at the end of a short hallway behind the bar. I put in to-go orders two different days for lunch because the Lemon Drop Bar is quite literally only 3 blocks away from work; a quick jaunt through St. Mary's cemetery (to avoid Q Street) and I was there. The bar itself is rather small, with a pool table right in front of the front door, a well adorned bar (liquor-wise) but with only four beers on tap. It was quiet, but this was a particularly late lunch. This place definitely caters to locals, but this being South Omaha, you don;t have to be a local to be welcomed in. I was treated like a regular by (who I'm assuming was) Ray himself.

The first day I ordered 18 traditional medium wings (way too much, even for me) and the second day I ordered the fried mushrooms and The Big Mike Jr. burger (again, still too much, even for me).

Big and meaty stuff, here.

I picked the medium spicy wing sauce so I could get a good bearing on where they stand on the heat scale in general. I can, in fact, handle super spicy foods, but I usually opt for less spice because I don't like spicy for the sake of spicy. In other words, if all I taste is heat, then what's the point? I want the spice to contribute, not dominate. The medium sauce did just that, and the wings were big and meaty as well, which helped me stomach the $1/per that they charge. I also very much appreciate that they fry their wings naked, that is, not battered or coated like a certain bawdy chain that semi-recently left Omaha. There were but two regrets: I was only afforded one cup of dressing (for 18 wings?) and the wings themselves just weren't quite crispy. I'll chalk that last complaint to being doused in sauce and being served takeout. All in all, they were very, very good wings, and in an area of town that is in serious need of them.

A classic bar food I have a hard time passing up.

That next Sunday I was filling in for someone at the bakery making the bread, so I had plenty of time while it rose to test Ray's again. Fried mushrooms are one of those classics that will always order if I see it, which if you remember from a past review also includes Spinach Artichoke Dip. Fair warning: you'll see plenty of both of these classics being reviewed here; think of them as common barometers by with to measure different places. Ray's fried mushrooms are solidly good. They had a thick, crunchy shell outside that nicely held inside all the mushroomy juices which render out while being cooked. The shell was seasoned well enough to taste like something, but not enough to overtake the mushroom. Again, though, just one cup of ranch to dip them in. By the time I was finished here, I was almost full, but since I had a burger to taste as well, I soldiered on. These are definitely enough to share.

Kinda wish I grabbed a plate to put this on so you could see it better. It looked much more appetizing in person.

I ordered the Big Mike Jr. Burger as my main meal. Since the description for this says, essentially, "half the size of the regular," here's what the regular, The Big Mike Burger, reads like on the menu: 

2-8oz Burger patties, 2 slices of Pepper Jack Cheese, 4 slices of Jalapeno Bacon all topped with Sautéed Jalapenos, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion and homemade Sriracha Aioli

A half pound burger is plenty enough for me. When I put the two halves together, I was presented with this:

Sans the dollar bill; that's for scale. I wish I got a buck for every burger I put together.

If I learned anything about Ray's, its that you won't walk away hungry, but you might waddle away asking why you look those last five bites.

This burger packs a lot of powerful flavors, and very surprisingly, they all played very well with each other. The bacon was crispy, the burger was well seasoned, the cheese melted well, and all the spicy elements certainly let you know they were there, but didn't overwhelm the entire thing. This is a solid burger, and I'd love to meet the one who can polish off a regular Big Mike Burger.

All in all, Ray's is legit bar food. The wings are excellent. but you should not eschew the rest of the menu. They are a little expensive (with taxes and all, it was over $20 for 18 wings, and my burger and mushrooms came to just under $18 - remember, this was without a drink for either ticket), but you will walk away with an excellent, excellent meal.