About 3 years ago I was a huge advocate of the buffet restaurant. It was a fantastic concept for me to pay one price and eat anything I wanted after that. I was such a soldier for buffets, I even came up with an idea for a comedic guide of buffet etiquette; ya' know, an almost mini Frommers of buffet Dos and Don'ts as well as buffet highlights around the world. In fact, as I type, I think I need to bring that idea out of its coma and let it have its day.
Back to the point, I have several friends that are NOT okay with the buffet. Why not? Speaking as an eating hobbyist, I have been to buffets in several states in the US, Turkey, Japan, Korea and Greece and I can tell you that there are enough buffets out there to tickle everyone's pallet. My friend Dustin is a pretty outspoken culinary enthusiast speaking out against buffets. While he has a point with the long lines (which I am not a fan of), I often beg to differ with him on the taste of what he describes as “mass-produced, cafeteria style” fare. Buffets, like any other eateries, are as diverse at the people that patronize them. One group of restaurants cannot to judged by a select few, much like people. Let's take a "Crash-Course" in buffet appreciation, shall we?
First, one cannot use Hometown Buffet as the buffet "Measuring Stick". I admit, when Hometown and Country Harvest Buffets popped up in the Fremont and Newark area in the mid 90's, I was excited! My family would make weekly trips to strap on the feedbag... ah, there it is, "feedbag". Hometown Buffet satisfied my urge to eat a lot in one place at one low price; that was it. In this case, mark one point for Dustin. What Hometown lacks in taste, they make up for in volume and not charging it's patrons for what they don't eat. Places like Hometown aren't worried about taste, they just want to get you guys in there.
To find a good buffet, find a type of food you like. I LOVE Japanese food, and I was jazzed to learn of a great Japanese buffet call Todai (like toe-dye). Todai serves up lunch and dinner with a variety of traditional Japanese dishes. Narrowing your food type will help you in your buffet search.
Finally, Buffet within your comfort zone. Let's start using buffet as verb for this example. When me and Lisa got married in Las Vegas last year, Dustin and his family accompanied us to the Paris Las Vegas buffet, Le Village Buffet. An amazing buffet (in my opinion) and probably the best I have attended to date. After about 25 minutes in line, it was obvious to me that Dustin was not "Buffeting" in his comfort zone. He and his wife had their young, yet tired son, Dustin had strong opinions about buffets in the first place and, we were coming off of a pretty exciting and exhausting day of wedding festivities. One must ask themselves several questions when defining their "Buffet Comfort Zone":
1. Do I even like buffets?
2. How long am I willing to wait in line?
3. How long can my child(ren) wait in line?
4. Is the food worth it?
5. How long am I willing to wait in with the person(s) I am going with?
Find your comfort zone, weigh the options and have fun.
My next post will include buffet Dos and Don’ts in order to enhance your buffet lifestyle.
Happy buffeting!
5 comments:
I like your usage of 'buffet' as a verb, but i am strongly opposed to using 'brunch' as a verb (as Rachel Ray is known to do). Although, I really have no basis whatsovever for this. Maybe it's because I really like you and Rachel can get on my nerves. Nonetheless, I think you have got this buffet thing down to a science. Good job!
Thanks for your comment, Uncle Wendy. Brunch really doesn't lend itself to verb usage huh? "Buffeting" is a very active lifestyle that requires thought, grace and strategic planning. Although Rachel Ray is gorgeous, thrifty and quick with a thirty-minute meal, she has NO business using Brunch as a verb. The very sound of the word "Brunch" suggests relaxation. To be continued...
I love Todai! I used to go there for lunch frequently when I worked in Cupertino. "All you can eat Japanese buffet" doesn't sound like it would be good, but oh.... yes it is.
SO what’s my beef with buffets? Beef, usually. It’s scary meat products that have tainted the buffet experience for me. And I realized that there are in fact MANY buffets I do like. If I’m gong to eat Indian food I PREFER buffet. I just haven’t got the hang of what is what in Indian food and for some reason there are many things I really like and many things I really can’t stand. I find buffets the easiest way to navigate it. I can’t take the recommendations of friends because there is a section of the Indian palette that is entirely incompatible for me, so buffet all the way! Also, Fresh Choice/Sweet Tomatoes- I LOVE going to these places. Salad buffet may sound like blasphemy to Mark, but it’s one of my favorite meals. I think what happens at meat oriented buffets is that the focus on meat brings the quality of the side dishes down considerably, and I’ve been scarred by enough rubber black mystery substances being eaten with fingers and- GACK! I want my meat prepared by Mark or Waylon over open flame and I want it now! As for the Paris buffet- just too many factors for it to be a fair “buffet” experience. I’m not one for a popular club over a dive bar, so a LONG wait to eat with everyone else just isn’t going to work for me baby or no baby. Let’s just let Paris stay in Paris and remember Larry flirting with the woman at the other table- and telling her off when her man arrived. Talk about a spunky 18 month old. PS Grand Buffet? Now we’re Talking.
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