BBQ joint seen on Food Network to open another central Ohio restaurant

JOHNSTOWN, Ohio (WCMH) -- A few months after opening their first full-service restaurant, Ray Ray's Hog Pit is forging ahead on plans to open their second inside the former Ghostwriter Public House.

Named "Ray Ray's Ohio Style," the new brick-and-mortar location is opening on Aug. 15 in Johnstown at 49 1/2 S. Main St., home to Ghostwriter before closing in February. While Ray Ray's is known for food trucks and walk-up eateries, the Johnstown restaurant will mark the brand's second foray into full-service dining after their first restaurant opened in Marion in April.

"Johnstown, we can't wait to feed you," Ray Ray's said in the social media announcement. "This full-service restaurant and bar brings with it not just barbecue, but a mood -- the weight of slow smoke in the air, the hum of a dining room alive with conversation, the invitation to sit down, stay a while, and taste something unmistakably Ohio."

Ray Ray's boasts "Ohio Style" as a brand new concept with an expanded menu, including beef brisket, pulled pork and rib entrees with two sides, like baked beans and mac and cheese. Sandwiches and burgers with pub fries, wings, salads, appetizers and dessert round out the offerings.

The barbecue fleet is currently home to six central Ohio eateries, like the food truck parked outside Aardvark Wine & Beer in Linworth. The brand also operates a storefront inside the space previously home to Wizard of Za in Clintonville, a walk-up window at Land-Grant Brewing in Franklinton, a drive-thru in Westerville, and a casual dine-in and pick-up location in Granville.

Ray Ray's Reload, one of the brand's renovated food trucks, was parked outside The Bottle Shop in Victorian Village for most of 2024 before moving in November to Hoof Hearted Brewery in the Short North.

Chef and Ray Ray's owner James Anderson was featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" in 2017, praised for his "succulent smoked offerings" at the "one-of-a-kind" barbecue truck. During the episode, Guy Fieri tried Ray Ray's Mangalitsa Brat Burger and St. Louis Spare Ribs.