Some buffets surprise us with high-quality offerings
I admit it: I wasn't very enthusiastic when I took my booth before tackling my last buffet in a weeks-long series of all-you-can-eats. But the exuberant server who brought my iced tea just plain put me in the mood to go get excessive.
Photo by Jim Weber
Grill chef Tony Hubble turns short ribs, squid and steak in the open grill during the Sunday lunch buffet at Eat Well Sushi & Grill in Bartlett.
Photo by Stan Carroll
At Chow Time Buffet & Grill, the buffets are separated into a Chinese section, a Southern food section, and a station devoted to soup, salad and dessert.
Photo by Jim Weber
A riot of colorful fish decorate each plate on the buffet at Eat Well Sushi & Grill in Bartlett.
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"OK, ladies, here's your drinks. Now go eat till you bust; I've got a wheelbarrow in the back and I'll get you out." Dang. Talk about service!
The buffet has inspired long looks down wrinkled noses from foodies here and yon, but I decided I would put aside my bias against steam-table food and approach this task with an open mind. And stretchy britches.
Before I give you the lowdown, here's a little mostly-anecdotal background.
For a fact, the term buffet came to apply to food in late 18th century France, when mostly cold dishes were set out on the sideboard, or buffet, so that gentlemen calling on young ladies could be fed as they came to visit without sending the kitchen into chaos with each arrival.
Most cultures embrace a buffet. In "Hors D'oeuvre and Canapés" by James Beard (one of my top-five favorite cookbooks of all time) Beard describes several, including the Swedish smorgasbord. He immediately segues to one of the greatest descriptive paragraphs in any cookbook:
"Zakuska is the Russian equivalent for this, probably with more caviar and perhaps more violent kinds of fish and much black bread and vodka."
Violent kinds of fish? I have no idea what he means, but I love to read it.
The buffet's arrival in America is speculative, taken from various sources that may or may not be reliable. Possibly the California Gold Rush ushered in the all-you-can-eat, but maybe not. What is known is that by the middle of the 20th century, the midnight buffet was a staple at Las Vegas casinos and they were pretty swanky spreads.
The first all-you-can-eat buffet I remember going to in Memphis was the Hungry Fisherman -- which doesn't mean it was the first one here. Whining & Dining bloggers remember The Fish Farmer and the Boston Sea Party as well as occasional buffet nights at Shakey's Pizza and the Luau.
There was the salad bar at Fred Gang's and Steak and Ale, possibly at the Jolly Ox before Steak and Ale moved in, and most definitely at Danver's, as my first job included keeping it clean and stocked.
Today, though, buffets are plentiful in town (and in Tunica, of course, but there's a casino story in the works). For restaurateurs, it's an efficient way to herd a large number of diners through in a short period of time. For diners, it's a quick way to grab a meal, to try a variety of foods, and, let's face it, the cheapest way around to pig out.
Here are a few tips to a successful buffet experience.
Arrive early, when the food is fresh. If a dish appears to be languishing, ask someone to replenish it.
Don't assume that the signs above the food are always correct. If it says chicken and you can see it's beef, ask someone what you're eating.
Take a small serving. You can always go back for more, and you don't want to have to ask for the wheelbarrow when it's time to leave.
That would just be humiliating.
Chow Time Buffet & Grill (4207 Hacks Cross; 737-8272) is part of a buffet empire that includes China Inn I, China Inn II, and Eat Well. It was there that the kind server offered to roll us out and I'll confess: It would've been nice. We were there for the Sunday lunch buffet, arriving just before the church crowd hit. The buffets are separated into a Chinese section, a Southern food section, and a station devoted to soup, salad and dessert.
Hit the Southern station. Hit it hard. The greens are excellent; the mashed potatoes are homemade (and divine); the mac and cheese looks a little orange but tastes creamy and rich. You can have spaghetti with your catfish, or you can go with fried chicken that tastes like your mama cooked it. No kidding. Keep it more healthful if you prefer, and go with the baked chicken. Trays of grilled chicken and grilled, smoked sausage, both covered with thick-sliced onions, are also really good.
The Chinese food is unexceptional. Nothing wrong with it, but it's the homestyle cooking that is -- I'm telling you true -- better than you'll find in many restaurants that cook to order. Don't miss the custard-y rice pudding for dessert, either.
Lunch is $6.99 weekdays and $7.99 on Saturdays; dinner is $8.99 every day except Sunday, when both lunch and dinner are $9.99.
Pyramid Mediterranean Grill and Buffet (6090 Macon Cove; 380-7814) offers up a three-station selection of mostly Middle-Eastern selections such as hummus, baba ghanoush and lamb, but also features Pakistani and Indian food. Favorites included a non-traditional riff on the Indian samosa where the potato filling was folded in a flour tortilla and fried. Delicious. A custard-filled filo dough that the server promised was another form of baklava was also excellent.
What I particularly liked about this buffet was the freshness of the tables and the generous condiments. Pickles, peppers, and sauces are abundant.
Lunch is $7.99 weekdays; dinner every night and weekend lunch is $9.99.
Mi Pueblo (3750 Hacks Cross; 751-8896) offers a Mexican buffet, and here, you want to be judicious. My mother assures me that the Mexican buffet is commonplace in many Western cities, but I question the wisdom of some of the items. The huevos do not, for example, hold up under the heat lamps. You can still make a decent lunch, though, and, as I was told by the person who referred me to Mi Pueblo, "you can pour white cheese dip all over everything."
Here's what you do: Go with the items you assemble yourself. The grilled steak and chicken make good tacos, either in a hard shell or a soft one. Put your meat on your taco, then walk over to the salad bar and dress it with onions, lettuce, tomato and fresh pico de gallo. You can find whole roasted jalapeno peppers there, too. If you can't resist, grab a bowl and fill it with white cheese dip.
Lunch buffet, Monday through Thursday, $6.99. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the buffet is all day and is $9.99.
Mayuri Indian Cuisine (6524 Quince; 753-8755). Indian food, with several exceptions, lends itself to a buffet. Numerous curries, bean and rice dishes hold up on the table and under the lights. The condiments such as mint chutney, raita and carrot relish stay cool and fresh away from the steam.
While I adore gulab jamun, little dough balls soaked in a light syrup, when ordered fresh, I'm always disappointed when I try these on a buffet; they simply soak up too much liquid as they sit.
Lunch buffet daily, $8.95; dinner buffet on Friday and Saturday, $11.95.
Eat Well Sushi & Grill (2965 Germantown Road; 388-8178) is the buffet of the day, the one people ask me about at least several times a week. It's got ambience, with a huge fish tank, subtle lights and dark wood throughout, and the food is generally good. There is clearly a price point issue going on, though. I've heard people complain about the $20 dinner, and when we visited, a couple left after seeing the price.
I don't get it. The sushi is made fresh in front of you; some of it is creative, some standard, some better than others -- but there are more than a dozen rolls to choose from, as well as an extensive selection of fresh sashimi. You could easily get your money's worth without ever leaving the sushi counter, but there's plenty more, too: Teriyaki, tempura, grilled meats and fish, and various vegetable dishes are abundant. There were even soft shells crabs out the night we were there.
Lunch is $9.88; dinner is $19.88.
Leonard's Barbecue (103 N. Main; 528-0875). People around my office eat at the buffet and friends who work Downtown do the same, but I've never been interested. Well, I was wrong. Wrong twice, in fact. First, I thought the Leonard's buffet bloggers told me to visit was the one in East Memphis (5465 Fox Plaza Dr. 360-1963), so I went there. The catfish was very good, clean, hot and fresh, (and my daughter and I both loved the spicy green beans) but I wasn't much impressed by the barbecue. When I discovered there were no butter rolls, I was shocked. The nice woman who worked there explained that the restaurants aren't owned by the same folks, so I next went to the Downtown Leonard's.
I thought the dry ribs and the pulled pork were just great, and I get why folks love a butter roll. My lunch partner thought the butter roll was non-traditional, with the sauce too dark and containing too much cinnamon, but I had no complaints. Nada.
Downtown offers two options, the full buffet or the salad and sandwich buffet. Full is $10.53 and sandwich is $7.32. Both served Monday through Friday for lunch and Wednesday through Friday for dinner.
On Fox Plaza, the lunch buffet is $10 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and $12.25 on Tuesday and Thursday (when ribs are included). Dinner buffet is $12.50 Sunday through Thursday and $15.50 on Friday and Saturday.
Grand Pacific (6105 Stage Road; 382-6339) was a surprise. My aunts and my mother told me about it several times, but I ended up there when I set out for a pizza buffet. I didn't have my tastebuds set for Chinese, but what I had hit the spot. A large sushi bar in the back is nearly as large as the one at Eat Well (not quite), and there's a home cooking island in addition to several Chinese stations and a cold bar.
The first thing I tried was chicken with peppers, and it couldn't have been more appropriately named. Small pieces of chicken, just barely coated, were stir-fried with sliced jalapenos. Simple and delicious. Very spicy, too, so it's not the dish for you if you have a delicate tongue. The quality of all the food was above what I expected from a buffet, and the price was right.
Lunch is $6.29 and dinner $9.29 daily, except for Sunday when lunch and dinner are both $9.29.
-- Jennifer Biggs: 529-5223
Comments » 2
willida writes:
I'd like to throw a vote in for Bombay House, 1727 N. Germantown Pkwy., between Kroger and Honey-Baked Ham. The buffet fare is prepared mild, but some of their pickles mixed in spice it up nicely for those of us who like it hot.
When I go to an ethnic restaurant I like to see patrons of that ethnic background. Everytime I have gone to Bombay House, I've seen customers who were born knowing their Tika from their Paneer.
By the way, while their buffet is good, I prefer to order off the menu. Their vindaloo is good enough to shed tears over--which you will if you order it spicy.
irvuss writes:
Good Job.
And what about them pizza buffs?
Need elastic waistband for that series?
Long live the Pizza Inn fried corn on the cob!
Thanks
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