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Get to Know Long Live the Kings

Did you know Ray’s has partnered with local salmon non-profit Long Live the Kings for nearly seven years? It’s an incredible cause and one that we look forward to supporting every year.

This small but mighty team has been working hard since 1986 to ensure our local salmon and steelhead populations grow and thrive for future generations.

They combine innovative field work, pioneering science, broad partnerships, andsophisticated new management tools to help decision-makers advance salmon recovery while balancing the needs of fish and people.

At Ray’s we do our best to make sure that our seafood comes from good people, good communities and is sustainably sourced. To achieve that we continue to evolve and listen to experts like Jacques White and the LLTK team about how we can help amplify their message and support their efforts for the future of Northwest salmon.

Learn more about their efforts, then keep an eye out here for how you can support them throughout the year at their events or during fundraisers like Survive the Sound and GiveBig!

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Drink Salmon Safe Wine this August for WA Wine Month!

For the month of August Ray’s is thrilled to support the mission of one of our partners, local nonprofit Long Live the Kings, and promote Washington wineries using grapes from “Salmon Safe” certified vineyards!

Long Live the Kings works to restore local salmon and steelhead populations, and choosing to drink salmon safe wines is one small step you can make to positively impact our waterways and ecosystem.

A salmon safe certification means that the vineyard has taken big steps to help restore and preserve wild salmon habitats.

Read on for tasting notes from our Wine Director Chip Croteau who hand selected the featured wines, and enjoy them in our first floor Boathouse and upstairs Café all month long.

Learn more about the important work of Long Live the Kings and get involved or donate today at LLTK.org!

L’Ecole No 41 ‘Luminesce’
7 Hills Vineyard Walla Walla Valley, WA 2020
12 glass /45 bottle

Bright and mouth-filling displaying expressive aromas of citrus blossom and key lime with the refreshing flavors of melon, lemon and peach; perfectly balanced by the rich fruit profile of Semillon and the crisp, floral, and mineral notes of the Sauvignon Blanc.

Hedges ‘DLD’ Estate Syrah
Les Gosses Vineyard Red Mountain, WA 2016
13 glass / 50 bottle

A wonderful balance of sweet and savory, fruity and smoky. There is a hint of tart reddish blue fruits, some graphite, toasted spices, crushed graham cracker and rosemary shortbread with bright acidity and a long balanced finish.

àMaurice Estate Viognier ‘Sparrow’
Walla Walla Valley, WA 2018
80 bottle

Crystalized jasmine, honey and orchard fruit aromatics leap out of the glass.   Rich and mouth coating stone fruits and white flowers follow up.  Arguably the best domestic Viognier and maybe the best white wine in WA state.

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We’re Back! March 3 Reopening

Ray’s Café will open for dine-in service at 25% capacity and for takeout service on Wednesday, March 3! The deck will also be open, so join us on a walk-in basis for the views you’ve missed and the food you crave.

 

We’ll be waiting for you with such classics as our Seared (Oregon) Albacore Cobb Salad, the Blackened Neah Bay Rockfish Sandwich, our quintessential Grilled Wild Alaskan King Salmon, the ginger-aromatic Vegetable Coconut Curry, and our beloved Steak Frites. View the full menus online; dine-in or order takeout beginning March 3.

Please note, cloth face coverings are required anytime guests are not seated and while at the table and not actively eating or drinking. Maximum allowed party size is six people, including children and infants.

 

Café Lunch and Dinner Hours
Wednesday-Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
Happy Hour: Wednesday-Sunday, 4-6 p.m.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
walk-ins only; not accepting reservations

Note: The Boathouse remains temporarily closed for dinner and bar service.

St. Patrick’s Celebration March 17
Mark your calendars for specials available for dine-in at the Café or via takeout! House made Corned Beef Sandwiches on rye bread and a special whiskey flight.

$15 flights of Jameson Whiskey
(Five half-ounce pours)
Jameson Original
Jameson Black Barrel
Jameson Caskmates IPA Cask
Jameson Caskmates Stout Cask
Jameson Cold Brew
Sláinte!

 

Long Live the Kings’ Salmon Stream, A Benefit on March 18

 

Ray’s is proud to serve as a fundraising partner with Long Live the Kings (LLTK), as in King salmon! Join us in supporting their upcoming virtual event and auction byRSVPing and bidding in their auction (opens early on 3/15). Look for an afternoon of boating and a picnic featuring Ray’s food and treats, and other great items and experiences. Your support helps LLTK in fulfilling its mission to restore wild salmon and support sustainable fishing in the Pacific Northwest, a mission we are also dedicated to here at Ray’s.
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A Lesson in Salish Sea Salmon Restoration

Sustainability and the health of our Salish Sea and waterways has long been an area of focus for the ownership and staff at Ray’s Boathouse. We’ve always worked to educate our team about what they are serving, where it came from and how it was caught or harvested. We visit our fishermen and women and other purveyors to see where our product comes from and how they run their businesses.

In the last year we partnered with non-profit Long Live the Kings (LLTK) to take an even larger role in the welfare of our local salmon runs so that generations to come can enjoy fresh wild salmon as we have. We are shifting our focus from one of sustainability to one that ensures our salmon populations increase as our city and infrastructure continues to grow and change.

Everything LLTK does is on behalf of improving the health and habitats of local salmon including three main areas: advancing science, improving management and implementing solutions.

Recently our team had the opportunity to sit down with the Executive Director of LLTK, Jacques White, for a lesson in salmon sustainability and the current state of our local runs, as well as updates regarding the Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery Task Force which is helping to ensure they have enough wild salmon to survive.

In the early 1980s there were nearly 1,000,000 Chinook salmon harvested here compared to about 200,000 in 2010. The biggest factors affecting Salish Sea salmon populations are:

  • Food sources (zooplankton and other salmon friendly nutrients)
  • Pollution
  • Noise
  • Predators
  • Infrastructure

Each of these plays a role in the reduction of salmon for various reasons and when compounded it’s easy to see why our local salmon are suffering.

There is no quick solution to this issue, but they have seen positive results in recent years including the ongoing restoration of Hood Canal summer chum. These fish were nearly extinct by the early 1990s but with the help of LLTK operating a conservation hatchery program to increase the abundance of naturally spawning summer chum, the number of adults returning to these rivers annually has increased from the 100s to well over 2,000.

LLTK is also actively involved in the Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery Task Force developed recently to address population concerns for these whales. The task force made recommendations to Governor Inslee to protect orcas and aid in their recovery with 11 of the 36 recommendations influenced by LLTK’s Salish Sea Marine Survival Project!

Ray’s is dedicated to this cause and doing what we can to increase the populations of our local salmon. For us it starts at the team level getting everyone at Ray’s to understand the issues at hand and to be able to educate our guests.

We invite you to learn more and get involved in this journey with us at LLTK.org.

Images courtesy of Long Live the Kings. 

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Ray’s & Long Live the Kings Work to Restore Wild Salmon

Dear guests,

Since our start in 1973 Rays has supported causes that benefit our local waterways, salmon and sustainable fishing. The water is our lifeblood, not just because we sit atop it but because we love to serve fresh fish at Ray’s and support our local fisherman, who depend on it.

The future of fish is the future of Ray’s. We’ve prided ourselves on doing the right thing from a sustainable fishing standpoint for 45 years and being a culinary leader in the community that helped usher in what is now called Pacific Northwest cuisine. We have a responsibility to protect this and we will not back down.

Earlier this month we announced our partnership with local non-profit Long Live the Kings (LLTK) and we would like to take this opportunity to expand on what that entails, how we’ll be working with them in the fight, and how you can get involved.

LLTK was founded in 1986 with the mission to restore wild salmon and steelhead and support sustainable fishing in the Pacific Northwest. They combine innovative field work, pioneering science, broad partnerships, and sophisticated new management tools to help decision-makers advance salmon recovery while balancing the needs of fish and people.

Our involvement with LLTK began with an internal education for our entire team where they were fortunate to receive a training session from Executive Director Jacques White about how LLTK is working to restore our local salmon runs. It’s something staff can share with our guests and also take pride in their knowledge of what it takes to keep wild salmon thriving in the Pacific Northwest.

We have staff field trips in the works and our goal is to get as many of our team as possible out there with LLTK to experience a hands-on working trip and understand their work even further.

We are currently running our Salmon Safe Wine promotion in the Café and Boathouse with $1 from each glass or bottle sold going to LLTK now until November 7. This is a first step to invite our guests to get familiar with LLTK and do something simple to help make a difference.

You can look forward to many more ways to support LLTK at Ray’s through the end of this year and into 2019! We also encourage you to visit lltk.org to sign up for their newsletter and get informed on the many exciting projects and events they have in the works.

Please join us in this important cause and contact us if you would like to get involved in a bigger way. rays@rays.com

Warmly,
Douglas Zellers, GM and Co-owner

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Drink Salmon Safe Wine for a Cause at Ray’s Thru Nov. 7!

 

Raise a glass to support salmon restoration at Ray’s Boathouse & Café this fall!

We are excited to announce our Salmon Safe wine promotion in partnership with Long Live the Kings! $1 from each glass or bottle sold from these special wine lists, will be donated to Long Live the Kings, a local non-profit and proud partner of Ray’s, that works to restore wild salmon and steelhead, and support sustainable fishing in the Salish Sea. Their programs―combining on-the-ground field work with scientific innovation and broad partnerships―help decision-makers advance salmon recovery.

The ‘Salmon Safe‘ certification for a vineyard reflects a grape growers commitment to vineyard management focused on the impact on water quality and salmon habitat.

This wine promotion will run in both the Boathouse and Café now through November 7th, each with different offerings. Scroll down to view the full menus and visit rays.com or call 206.789.3770 to reserve. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Boathouse Salmon Safe Wine Menu*

Hedges Family Estate Syrah
‘DLD’ Cuvée Marcel Dupont
Red Mountain, WA 2013
15 gls / 55 btl
Dedicated to Anne-Marie Hedges’s grandfather, Marcel Dupont, this cuvée displays the greatest qualities of low yield farming and the hallmarks of Red Mountain Syrah: earthy minerality, rich dark fruits, dried spices, cocoa, leather and smoke.

Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Gris
Eola-Amity-Hills, OR 2017
15 gls / 55 btl
A rich and textured pinot gris with nectarine, apricot and peach flavors set against a bright core of mouth watering acidity.  Elegant yet powerful.

Brickhouse Vineyard Chardonnay
Ribbon Ridge, OR 2015
16 gls / 64 btl
A very ‘old world’ and Burgundian style wine using 100% organic grapes and biodynamic farming. Lemon cream, yellow apple, nutty minerality and saline tinged wet stone.

Sokol Blosser Esate Rosé
Dundee Hills, OR 2017
13 gls / 50 btl
It may not be summer but it’s certainly still a great time to enjoy this rosé made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes.  Fresh strawberry, pink grapefruit and blood orange with a hint of pepper spicing up the finish.

Brickhouse Vineyards Pinot Noir
Les Dijonnaise
Ribbon Ridge, OR 2016
30 gls / 110 btl
From the opening aroma, the complexities compound, offering pepper, spice, cranberry, candied rose petal, red berry and cherry notes.  Sautéed herbs, underbrush and a stony minerality frame the elegant fruit flavors.

Chateau Ste. Michelle
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cold Creek Vineyard
Columbia Valley, WA 2013
16 gls / 60 btl
Inky black in color, this Cab is ripe, sexy, textured and with real density; it gives up lots of chocolate, caramelized plum, vanilla bean, and currant-like aromas and flavors.

àMaurice Cellars ‘Night Owl’
Merlot/Cab Sauv & Franc/Petit Verdot
Walla Walla, WA 2013
23 gls / 85 btl
Offering an exotic, complex bouquet of lavender, wild herbs, loamy earth and both red and black fruits, this estate grown blend is medium-bodied and elegant with a dark, meaty, chocolaty, earthy core.

Cafe Salmon Safe Wine Menu*

Sokol Blosser Estate Pinot Gris 
Willamette Valley, OR 2017 12 gls / 46 btl 
Fresh citrus rind, grapefruit, white flowers and wet stone. 

Terra Blanca Chardonnay ‘Arch Terrace’ 
Red Mountain, WA 2017 11 gls / 40 btl 
Barrel fermented featuring yellow apple, ripe pears and creamy citrus. 

Hedges Family Estate Syrah ‘DLD’ 
Red Mountain, WA 2013 15 gls / 55 btl 
All the hallmarks of Red Mountain Syrah: earthy minerality, rich dark fruits, dried spices, cocoa, leather and smoke. 

Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Gris 
Eola-Amity-Hills, OR 2017 55 btl 
A rich and textured pinot gris with nectarine, apricot and peach flavors set against a bright core of mouthwatering acidity 

Brickhouse Vineyards Pinot Noir ‘Les Dijonnaise’ 
Ribbon Ridge, OR 2016 110 btl 
Pepper, spice, cranberry, candied rose petal, red berry and cherry notes with sautéed herbs, underbrush and a stony minerality. 

Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon 
Cold Creek Vineyard Columbia Valley, WA 2013 60 btl 
Inky black in color with chocolate, caramelized plum, vanilla bean, and currant-like aromas and flavors. 

àMaurice Cellars ‘Night Owl’ 
Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon & Franc/Petit Verdot 
Walla Walla, WA 2013 85 btl 
A complex bouquet of lavender, wild herbs, loamy earth and both red and black fruits with a dark, meaty, chocolaty, earthy core.

* Menus subject to change.