Ray's the Steaks at East River Closes to 'Reformat'

Michael Landrum surprise-opened Ray's to the Third last month, shuttered Ray's Hell Burger Too less than two weeks ago for some retooling and now the Washington Post reports that the restaurateur has also temporarily closed the East River location of Ray's the Steaks. Tim Carman spots a sign on the restaurant's window announcing its intention to "reformat" and reopen in January 2012, which is rarely a good sign for a restaurant that has only been open for a year and a half. So Carman followed up to find out whether the restaurant is actually closing for good and got a "no comment" via text message.

Of course, this sounds similar to the Ray's Hell Burger Too situation in that Landrum closed that restaurant with the promise to re-open it as a brand new concept that will be both casual and cheap. So is that what's happening over at Ray's the Steaks East River? Unclear, and it's entirely possible that Landrum might not even know given statements he made when shuttering Hell Burger Too about making decisions at the last minute. But undoubtedly this whole thing will be fun to follow.

· Ray’s: The Steaks at East River Closes For Renovations [WaPo]
· All Previous Michael Landrum Coverage [-EDC-]