Ca$h Mob to Hit Ray’s Deli--The Last Light on Western

This Saturday, from 6-8 pm, the Facebook group Petaluma Ca$h Mob kicks off the spring mobbing season with a hit at Ray’s Deli.

Miranda Austin and Eli Schuepbach took over the establishment, which has been on the corner of Western and Webster since 1947, on February 1st, 2011. Passionate about food, beer and wine, the two modeled their vision for Ray’s on English and Irish pubs, says Austin, “but with better food.”

They source as much as they can locally and buy organic, using local cheeses, more artisan wine and beer selection “without being boutique-y. We still make a mac salad, but with the best ingredients.” The neighborhood place, where people come to meet, is the vision, and Austin and Schuepbach seem to have pulled it off beautifully. The deli side sells chips and soda and such, and makes killer sandwiches, soups and salads. As the takeout menu proclaims, “Almost all of our food is made from scratch using our own recipes, right down to salad dressings and specialty condiments.”

What I like about the place is that you can get your beer and take it to the deli side, or outside to the patio on Western. It’s a restaurant, so kids are allowed over on the tavern side too. When I stopped in, a longtime customer known as “Tank” informed me that Ray’s serves “the coldest beer in town.” He’ll drive from the other side of town just to have one cooled in the original 1947 fridge. But he’s been coming here since he was, “one of them,” he said, pointing to the kids milling around outside with candy and soda pop. Austin prides herself on maintaining the dishes from the menu of the past to please the regulars, while raising the bar a bit on the ingredients, which keeps customers coming back.    

Schuepbach, a graphic designer and computer programmer by trade, joined Miranda in the endeavor at Ray’s because he wanted to get out from behind the desk. His training shows in the new signage and promotional materials, and helps lift this traditional establishment onto a little higher plane that’s in keeping with the times, and still a throwback to a more slowly moving lifestyle, where hanging with friends and family warrants a nice long lunch or early supper at the local deli and tavern.