Ray's Place Hosts Food Network for Upcoming Show

, the iconic Kent college bar, has been immortalized in popular media by the likes of Playboy, Northern Ohio Live magazines and local news media outlets ad nauseum.

Now owner Charlie Thomas can add The Food Network to his deep file of news and media clips.

Ray's Place hosted a Food Network film crew Tuesday for a taping of the show Best Thing I Ever Ate. The star of the show? Ray's popular "Mo-Fo" burger, a double-cheeseburger with bacon, sauteed mushrooms and the works for $7.50.

The reason for this latest "news" coverage? Cleveland-based Iron Chef winner Michael Symon was quoted in a 2009 Food Network Magazine article calling the Mo-Fo the best thing he'd ever eaten. So, the popular network added Kent, OH, to their list of stops in filming for this fall's season.

Thomas said a film crew buzzed around the bar Tuesday filming Ray's Place chef Bob Paone making the beef patties, cooking them on the tavern's charbroiler and generally building the Mo-Fo. Combine those with general shots of the eatery, the waitress and the designated on-air Mo-Fo eater, and you've got a TV show.

Thomas called the upcoming episode “basically another piece of notoriety" for the popular bar.

"We sell tons of Mo-Fos," Thomas said. "I think we’re going to see a jump in business in the next two weeks. And when it airs, probably in September or October, we’re going to see another big spike. It’s just one of those things.

“We’ve had different TV coverage over the years, whether it was Cleveland or something like that for different stories they were doing,” he said. “We’ve been written up I don’t know how many times over the years. Someday I have to pull all this stuff out.”