All About Buffets

[jo-mel]

<<<<<~~~~~and germany (featuring sausage, sausage, sausage, sausage, eggs, bacon, sausage and sausage)--~~~~~>>>>>

Mongo ---If there was crusty, soft/chewy rye bread also, then we may have been at the same place!!!!! HeeHee!

[purplewiz]

Usually, I am having to juggle different eating habits and restrictions and my most successful ones have been Mexican cuisine.

This is why I have a special place in my heart for buffets. For our wedding nearly 10 years ago, we had guests who ran the gamut from strict low-fat vegetarians to folks for whom it's not a party unless there's red meat and potatoes on the menu. The only solution available without breaking the budget was a buffet - which all enjoyed, thank goodness.

I like the all you can eat salad bars, since they neatly answer the question "what do you do when you want a really large, interesting salad with lots of different things on it and there are only two of you?" Sure, I could buy all the ingredients, but then I'd have at least a week's worth of leftovers to deal with. For a very reasonable fee, someone else has prepared everything, and I need only select the items and the quantity I want. Not to mention the really good chicken noodle soup.

Marcia.

[ellencho]

My family are connoseurs of buffets. Hell, we take two trips a year to vegas and some of us actually go into "training mode" to expand our tummies for all that buffet food. True, Vegas buffets have become pricier throughout the years but I daresay that quality has only gone up along with the prices.

Each of us have our own strategies on how we like to eat our food. My mom and my sister are marathon eaters, and start out with lighter fare, like salads and lox, no bread. Then they move on to the heavier stuff and end their meal with some pastry and fruit. My father and brothers and I are short distance eaters. We neglect all salads and just go for meat and seafood. I personally am very careful to leave room for dessert, and even get a look at the dessert section before getting my actual meal.

Even though buffets in Vegas can get pretty crowded, that's just the best time to go - when it's somewhat busy. You'll get good turnover of food. But aside from that, I guess what makes for a good buffet is good variety of food, quality of food, quality of bussers, cleanliness.

I too, am not a big fan of young children allowed to run unsupervised in buffets, sticking their fingers into the food and running into people holding plates. But yes, I think that the child-sized ice cream/dessert station is a great idea, let them mess their own stuff up :)

[mongo_jones]

<<<<<~~~~~and germany (featuring sausage, sausage, sausage, sausage, eggs, bacon, sausage and sausage)--~~~~~>>>>>

Mongo ---If there was crusty, soft/chewy rye bread also, then we may have been at the same place!!!!! HeeHee!

there may have been bread, but i was too busy constructing sandwiches from sausage--two layers of sausage with sausage sprinkled sausage in between; with a side of sausage--to notice. (now i can't get the kids in the hall eraserhead/"sausages" film out of my head.)

another great (albeit very expensive) buffet: the sunday brunch at the four seasons, beverly hills.

also in l.a, a very inexpensive buffet: souplantation (or are they national?)--i always liked their tuna-tarragon and their chicken-noodle soup.

[Katherine]

Ten years ago I stayed in a Vegas hotel during a seminar. I did much of my eating at the $5.99 buffet, as opposed to the free one that came with the room and looked like high school cafeteria food.

What do I remember?

Roasted meats of all sorts. Dessert, especially a flan-type custard in a ring mold. And sparkling wine on tap. SPARKLING WINE ON TAP!!! HELP YOURSELF!!!

Sorry. I got carried away. Repeatedly.

[mongo_jones]

My family are connoseurs of buffets. Hell, we take two trips a year to vegas and some of us actually go into "training mode" to expand our tummies for all that buffet food.

i'll be glad to run the training camp for your kin, for only a nominal fee. i have a very scientific process. first, one must walk around the entire buffet and appraise the situation. then one constructs the courses in one's head and plans out a line of attack--this involves examining lines (time spent waiting for prime-rib could be better allocated digesting chilled asparagus) and status of platter (you don't want the fresh out of the kitchen mashed potatoes or the crusty last bit). never go all out on the first or second course. always leave room for a last sampling of the greatest hits and dessert.

within these general parameters more creativity is possible: sometimes i like to move from cold to hot to cold (dessert) again. at other times i like to move from cuisine to cuisine (especially at the bellagio).

needless to say, i always get my money's worth AND make up for my wife who doesn't understand the concept of the all-you-can-eat buffet.

and here's a cheapskate's tip to the ultimate weekday vegas buffet experience: go at the liminal time between lunch and dinner (or breakfast and lunch). you pay for lunch but are still there when the fancier stuff for dinner or lunch gets brought out.

[mongo_jones]

Sorry. I got carried away. Repeatedly.

were you then literally carried away?

[Katherine]

There are buffets where you can plan your attack, but then there are buffets where you need to be ready to assault with no notice.

These are the buffets for which I was trained.

I grew up on all-you-can-eats, smorgasbords, and other pigouts. But although there was no training specific to this aspect, I am prepared at any time to be the first in line at any buffet. Something happens, some turn of the head, a motion of an employee, and I'm up, moving toward the food.

Others are still unaware the buffet line is open when I sit next to them with my first full plate.

Maybe it's genetic...

[mongo_jones]

I grew up on all-you-can-eats, smorgasbords, and other pigouts. But although there was no training specific to this aspect, I am prepared at any time to be the first in line at any buffet. Something happens, some turn of the head, a motion of an employee, and I'm up, moving toward the food.

Others are still unaware the buffet line is open when I sit next to them with my first full plate.

what we need is the buffet-lympics--points to be awarded for quantity, variety and speed of attack. style points awarded for order, lack of waste and attitude. definitely no swim-suit competition.

someone pitch the food network for me.

katherine, your tale intrigues me but i laugh knowingly: i will take you down!

[Katherine]

I grew up on all-you-can-eats, smorgasbords, and other pigouts. But although there was no training specific to this aspect, I am prepared at any time to be the first in line at any buffet. Something happens, some turn of the head, a motion of an employee, and I'm up, moving toward the food.

Others are still unaware the buffet line is open when I sit next to them with my first full plate.

what we need is the buffet-lympics--points to be awarded for quantity, variety and speed of attack. style points awarded for order, lack of waste and attitude. definitely no swim-suit competition.

someone pitch the food network for me.

katherine, your tale intrigues me but i laugh knowingly: i will take you down!

Alas, I'm sure you will. I can't eat like I used to when I was speedskating.

[mongo_jones]

i'll be glad to run the training camp for your kin, for only a nominal fee. i have a very scientific process. first, one must walk around the entire buffet and appraise the situation. then one constructs the courses in one's head and plans out a line of attack--this involves examining lines (time spent waiting for prime-rib could be better allocated digesting chilled asparagus) and status of platter (you don't want the fresh out of the kitchen mashed potatoes or the crusty last bit). never go all out on the first or second course. always leave room for a last sampling of the greatest hits and dessert.

i forgot to say: never eat too much rice or pasta. i cannot stress this enough. rice and pasta is how the house wins at the vegas buffet.

[fifi]

For the sake of staying on topic, I am going to assume that a salad bar is a buffet, or at least a sub-set of a larger buffet.

Have you ever noticed how people approach salad bars differently? Some are of the heap and dump persuasion. At the other end of that spectrum are the anal retentive composers. Every bit of brocolli must sit upon the greens just so. Then there are the separatists... little heaps of ingredients meticulously separated. And when you add in the various styles of adding the croutons and sunflower seeds things can get really interesting. But have you ever seen anyone actually add the raisins? Then there is the ceremony of the annointing. First you have to choose the dressing. Then there are a variety of ways to apply it.

I suppose the same could be said for the whole buffet, but I find salad bar behaviour particularly interesting.

Surely, someone has written the definitive work on the psychology of the salad bar.

[Mabelline]

Yep. Sigmund Frisee.

[Toliver]

For the sake of staying on topic, I am going to assume that a salad bar is a buffet, or at least a sub-set of a larger buffet.

San Diego has a great chain of all-you-can-eat soup and salad bars called The Soup Plantation. My family actually prefers it over other typical buffet places.

I agree with some of the other posters...size up the situation first, ignore the "fillers" and don't drink a lot of fluids even though it's free for the taking. Save the room for food, not liquids.

A little known fact about buffets: Did you know a lot of buffets set their A/C really high in hopes that patrons don't stay too long due to the cold air? Of course, my brother and his wife are wise to this and dress like they're getting ready to trek through the Artic Circle when they're heading out to a buffet.

As for buffets at home, Thanksgiving at my Mom's has turned into one over the years and it works out great. There's just no room for all the food on the table and you can get up and get seconds (or thirds!) if you want without having to have someone pass it to you.

[tony h]

buffet's are evil

no further explantion required

[srhcb]

buffet's are evil

no further explantion required

SB (as you said, no further explanation required)

[browniebaker]

I love buffets; grew up on them. My family are pros at buffets. Every Christmas when my husband, our children, and I go home to visit my parents and brothers, it's serious buffet time: three or four restaurants in ten days. My husband did not grow up on buffets and thinks my family is weird.

Strategy is key. Father, a doctor, says eating slowly and stretching out the meal is the way to eat more. Everyone drinks only water, no fillers such as sweet tea or soda. And definitely no wine or beer -- too filling -- so we decline when the owner of the restaurant offers to send some complimentary drinks over.

Buffets create some performance-anxiety, though. Father and mother both take buffets so seriously that recriminations rain down on you if they see food on your plate that they consider cheap fillers. Choose breads, potatoes, or pasta, and they will say they really don't get their money's worth when bringing you out to eat here. Fail to choose the food they consider delicacies -- crab, lobster, scallops, sushi, shrimp -- and they say the same. Eat too little in quantity, and they say the same. But eat too much, and Father starts feeling bad for the restaurant's losing money. Can't win.

About wasting food Father and Mother go overboard. Heaven forbid you should leave a morsel uneaten. With just one mussel left on his plate, my brother realized he was too full to eat another bite. Recriminations rained down. Then Father and Mother "auctioned" off the lone mussel to whoever could still eat it. "Anyone, anyone?" I took the mussel, to take the heat off my brother, and my husband rolled his eyes at my parents and at me (for caving in to their excessive demands).

I prefer eating at buffets alone or with my little children; there's no one to make judgments about my food choices.

[Suzanne F]

If I am going out to eat, I'll be damned if I'm going to wait on my self. Why spend that to do what someone else can do for me?

How do you feel about rodizios -- kind of a hybrid, where you help yourself to the salad bar, but they come around with a variety of cooked meats? (I've never been to one, myself, but kind of like the idea.)

But then, I kind of like buffets (even though I do worry some about sanitation). There's almost always something to eat, like sausages sausages sausages (and possibly bacon) on breakfast/brunch buffets. And if one can scout out the entire line before taking up a plate, so much the better.

That said, I would probably never actively seek out a buffet for its own sake. But if that's all there is, as at, say, a jazz club with a performer I love (brunch at Iridium, Bob Dorough), then I'll find what I can to eat. And if I know the regular food is good (a couple of Indian restaurants in my neighborhood come to mind), then I figure the buffet will be all right, too.

[srhcb]

If I am going out to eat, I'll be damned if I'm going to wait on my self.  Why spend that to do what someone else can do for me?

How do you feel about rodizios -- kind of a hybrid, where you help yourself to the salad bar, but they come around with a variety of cooked meats? (I've never been to one, myself, but kind of like the idea.)

Just my personal preference, but I don't do salad bars either.

[JennyUptown]

I grew up in a family that really, really liked buffets of all varieties so now I tend to shun them (short of the quality ones in Vegas). I still have flashbacks about the salad bar at our local Ponderosa. *shudder*

That said, the best buffet ever is at the Paris casino in Vegas. We were too hungover to make it in time for breakfast (which I hear is amazing), but lunch was good. I ate at least four desserts including two helpings of bananas foster.

[Pere Hugo]

Buffets are great for my family. Everyone seems to have different tastes and appetites (two teens) so the amount and choices fit the bill.

I do some work as a movie extra. Some of their lunch spreads are pretty spectacular although often non seasoned much to please the non-foodie type.

[stephenc]

Sushi buffets.

Oh man. Gross sushi, but good way to get your money's worth.

Typically they frown upon not eating the rice, so it becomes a contest to see who can hide the most sushi rice in the strangest of places.

I've eaten the meat off of 20 nigiri pieces, dumped the rice in a napkin, brought it to the bathroom, and flushed it down the toilet.

Also, that big bowl of miso soup is incredible for dumping excess rice. Most of the time, they don't notice if you mix it up good.

I swear they put some filler in the rice or something to fill you up faster. I never eat it.

[franktex]

I have gone back & forth on buffets, but I currently like a few of them. While I am not a huge eater, I like a lot of different things, as well as a nice selection of veggies too.

Chinese buffets are usually a hit & miss, and most consist of the gloopy sauces loaded with MSG, but some are fairly decent. The ONLY time I go to a buffet, I go shortly after they open for lunch, so everything is fresh and hot, and not overdone.

Also, certain Chinese buffets occasionally have crab legs, and while I rarely get my money's worth at buffets, I can mow through several plates of crab legs. Unfortunatly, some are fried(why anyone would *fry* crabs is beyond me! They're in a shell for chrissakes!!)

I'm also a big fan of Souper Salads.

[WHT]

I grew up in a family that really, really liked buffets of all varieties so now I tend to shun them (short of the quality ones in Vegas). I still have flashbacks about the salad bar at our local Ponderosa. *shudder*

That said, the best buffet ever is at the Paris casino in Vegas. We were too hungover to make it in time for breakfast (which I hear is amazing), but lunch was good. I ate at least four desserts including two helpings of bananas foster.

The World at Rio is the best.

[yellow truffle]

What's the difference between a buffet and a smorgasbord? Is it a generational thing? I remember going to smorgasbords when I was a kid. But now all I see are buffets.