Derek R.

Hello everyone! I'm trying to help an amazing lady in Berkeley Springs in WV who goes by Mama Trey get her new establishment off the ground. Her menu is one of the most varied I've seen or experienced! She's in deep need of reservations to stay open, so I was hoping some nice folks here could review her website, and hopefully, just maybe, book a reservation to keep her afloat this December. If you haven't been, it's right beside a massive set of hot springs, and the whole area is overlooked by a legitimate castle built in the 1800's (I know, a real castle, in West Virginia of all places)! Her space has panoramic views of it all. By day it's Fairfax Coffee House, by night, on weekends, it's Ray's The Bar. It's a straight shot to get to. You hop off I-81, get on I-70, turn onto Rt 522, go straight, and you practically run into the place. She opened this place to try to help the local economy, and uses all local produce, meats, so on. Earlier in the year, Berkeley Springs lost the 30+ year nightly dining attraction that was Tari's, and at the town hall meeting they asked if anyone could extend their store hours to help fill the now massive hole in the local economy, or if anyone had any new ideas. She decided to open Ray's, The Bar in honor and memory of her dear friend Ray Goodman. Mr. Goodman shared both Abraham Lincoln's famed, distinctive features, and Mr. Goodman would fashion himself in Lincoln's iconic clothing, spending much of his last decade in The Springs. Who can resist seeing a man resembling the beloved Abraham Lincoln walking around steaming hot springs, overlooked by a castle, and not want to speak with him? That was Ray's game. He would then teach people about how The Springs bring varied peoples together, and the healing properties of both The Springs themselves as well as the healing properties of the solidarity found in good conversation with people you wouldn't have spoken with otherwise. He was an advocate of health and healing right up through his 89th year, and everyone misses him dearly. In honor of his memory Mama Trey developed the restaurant's name sake, company values, menu, and atmosphere. Mama Trey and Chef really blew me away. Their idea was to have conversations with locals AND all the tourists to develop their menu. Their menu was built having conversations with pretty varied peoples about what their comfort foods are that remind them of their definition of "home" (in like a, 'home is where the heart is,' sort of way), then they filtered that through their strengths as chefs. Chef (Chuck, as he insisted I call him) is VERY well traveled and learned. His adventures, studying and experience in speaking with the man made him feel like the Dos Equis Man (that commercial, 'he IS the most interesting man in the world,) and as a result he's capable of a great deal. Mama Trey has a Jewish, southern American background, and can synthesize any soul food you can think of whether it's a Matzo Ball Soup, Gluten Free Lasagna, or Rabbit Stew. They both have great senses of humor, too. Their vibe for Ray's The Bar is a cozy, ornate, relaxed energy, (my favorite table throw was The Buddha set against a deep, warm, red backdrop) and it can be as attentive or removed an experience as you want it to be. Like, It can be hands on or hands off. While serving all the tables for two on up to groups of six they apparently had a banquet style event of around ~40 people who only wanted appetizers, wine, and beer in a secluded location that they were serving at the same time (unbeknownst to everyone). Pretty damn impressive! Essentially, their menu is not only varied, but it changes from week to week, so when you visit their site, you reserve for the weekend with the menu you're most attracted to. But! You can tell them about any dietary restrictions that you or someone in your party might have when you book (great as two of Mama Trey's friends visited Ray's, but the one has Celiac Disease, but loved the sound of the weeks that offered Matzo Ball Soup and lasagna), then when Mama Trey calls the person who made the reservation, she works through everything with them. Again, if you want to go a la carte, or say you only, merely want to do rounds of appetizers and drinks they can do that, too. It's extremely flexible and personalized. That's true even when you need something shifted for dietary needs due to their skill and what local elements they have handy in reproducing the menu you're interested in. If they can't pull off a 1:1 recreation of a menu item in a vegan, gluten free, Pescatarian, vegetarian (whatever you like) format, then she meets you in the middle, and crafts an all new item JUST for your table using most of the same base ingredients! And, they're using local produce, meats, and everything else from the eggs to the romaine to the mustard seed salami (she says aside from, say, lemons, and copious quantities of black pepper which are, you know, hard to come by in rural West Virginia). Shoot, she recounted to me that there were people who were asking her about Huckleberries at some point for their reservation, and while she told them she couldn't do that, she met them in the middle with fresh blueberries handpicked from the 50+ blueberry bushes in her private garden to make a compote (which apparently became a staple, and after trying a sample with the cheesecake, I can see why). Her vision is to have her business tie into the other aspects of the local economy so everyone holds each other up, keeping megaliths at bay, and that carries on to the fact THAT THERE IS NO TIPPING! Her workers are actually paid well (at both Ray's The Bar and her coffee shop, which both operate out of the same space depending on if it's day or night). Having spent my fair share of tours working in the restaurant industry I can't tell you how wonderful it was to hear that unlike your Applebee's (anywhere else really) her workers WEREN'T making a meek $2.15 an hour, understaffed, begging for tips in order to make end's meet. My hope is that some nice folks here would visit her Facebook page or her website, and hopefully, just maybe, book a reservation to keep her afloat this December. All my love and thanks! - Derek =]