RIP, PuPu Inn in Elmwood Park

[zhelder]

WAAAAAAAHAHAHAH! It looks like the Great Great Great Granddaddy of all Chinese buffets, the PuPu Inn in Elmwood Park, is no more. I went there the other night for dinner, and the place looked empty, and "For Rent" signs were in the window.

OK, they only had about 20 no-frills items on their buffet. The "atmosphere" basically consisted of benches, tables, and walls. Parking was rough. But the food was good (including the best fried noodles and cheese toasts EVER), it was easy to get out quick, and the prices were dirt cheap. ($4.95 for lunch, $6.50 for dinner. I don't think they every increased the prices since they've been in existence.)

I know, they're a blast from the past, but I loved 'em. They used to have locations in Bloomfield and Clifton, but they both disappeared years ago. The Elmwood Park location was the last one, I believe. There also used to be a nearly identical restaurant in West Paterson in the strip behind the Pizza Hut called BoBo Inn.

Do any of these old school buffets exist anymore? I love the good fancier buffets, but sometimes I want a $5 buffet lunch that I can eat in 20 or 30 minutes, without any of the frills, and food right out of the early 1980s.

And does anyone know what happened to PuPu? They were there for a long time. I know there was an attempted robbery there a few months ago, I wonder if this affected their decision to close down.

I'm really bummed right now.

[NJ2FLA]

I do recall the PuPu in Bloomfield. I also recall often going to the BoBo Inn in Totowa as well. I worked at Bob Ciasulli Mitsubishi & Hyundai across the street when I was 18-19 years old so that would have been in the late 80's. We knew the owner and his name was Billy. His wife was a hairdresser and when I would go in with my family we would always talk to him. He was partners with one of the guys from the PuPu in from Bloomfield. I remember both places being inexpensive and relatively busy.