At a number of buffet restaurants when you go up to the fried chicken on the hot buffet server, there is a sign above that says BROASTED CHICKEN. Shady Maple is a buffet that serves "Broasted Chicken". It looks like fried chicken but it is "broasted", what the heck?
I always wondered. In fact, I wondered about this for a lot longer than when I started go to eat at buffets. When I was a kid a take out restaurant opened in a nearby community called the "Broaster House". Always seemed to be just fried chicken, but they had the slogan, "It's not fried, its broasted!" Hmmm. So broasted - broiled roasted? No actually, not at all.
Broasted is a cooking process that has been around for more than 50 years. It is a pressure deep frying process. It requires special equipment that is made by and distributed by one company - Broaster. Only food that comes from their equipment may be called Broasted and the process can be used on not just chicken, but other meats and fish as well. The name is trademarked and the process must be done in their equipment with the Broaster Company's marinades and seasonings.
So what is the difference between Broasted Chicken and Fried Chicken? The machine is a pressure cooker deep fryer - frying the food under great pressure. Regular fried chicken is either put in a wire basket and sunk into a vat of hot oil or put in a frying pan with a layer of oil in it. The Broaster Company claims that chicken made by their process contains less carbs than fried chicken such as KFC, etc. They also claim there are less calories and less fat in Broasted Chicken. The process results in a more tender, juicy, and flavorful piece of chicken. Sinking the chicken into a plain vat of hot oil as is usually done will toughen the meat of the chicken. Some people think that the chicken when cooked under pressure will have the oil pushed into the chicken, but the company has proven that this is not true and in fact, results in less fat than open frying.
I recently went to Shady Maple Smorgasbord just to check out the broasted chicken. (I hope you don't believe that was the only reason that I went to Shady Maple - there was a lot more that I wanted there than just the Broasted Chicken, but I figured it was a chance to enjoy and critically taste Broasted Chicken with this article in mind.) So, is there a difference. The Broasted Chicken is moister than fried chicken that I have had at other buffets - OCB comes to mind. It is also cooked properly - not over done (as is often the case, again at OCB). The taste is good. Is it the best fried chicken that I have ever had - no, Mrs. Rowe's fried chicken gets that honor - see my article about Mrs. Rowe's a few weeks back. But the Broasted Chicken is good and it should be consistent due to the cooking process.
So next time that you go to Shady Maple or any buffet that has Broasted Chicken over the fried chicken being served, take a bite and know exactly how that chicken was made and why it is not "fried" but "broasted".
Broaster is a registered trademark of the Broaster Company.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
All You Can Eat BBQ in New York City
New York City - Manhattan to be exact - is one of the last places that you might expect to find two things - good barbecue and all you can eat at a reasonable price. On Monday nights you can find both at Hill Country Barbecue Market. This is a restaurant in downtown Manhattan that serves Texas Barbecue and Country Music all week from the menu, but on Mondays they offer something special.
The Hill Country Barbecue Market has three restaurant locations - Austin, Texas, Fort Worth, Texas and,of all places, New York City. The restaurants are known for their brisket, pork, and country sides. On Monday nights they are calling this a Recession Special and from 5 pm to 10 pm you are getting unlimited portions of sliced beef brisket, pork ribs, and chicken. All of this for just $25 per person. As is typical of NY restaurants the sides are extra but are served unlimited as well and cost $2.00 each for Mac and Cheese, Chili, and Beans. Now, add all of the sides and you just increased you meal price to $31.00. But if you are willing to pass on the extras, you can leave more room for the Barbecue meats.
As I always tell my readers when I have not been there to try a restaurant but want to share a good all you can eat or buffet possibility - I have not eaten here. I am told it is very good. The All You Can Eat deal is only Monday nights and everyone at the table must be eating the unlimited special. You can not mix menu diners with all you can eat dinners at one table, and of course, you may not take food out of the restaurant that is leftover. There is live country music starting at 8:00 pm.
All you can eat Barbecue is hard to find anywhere - all you can eat restaurants in New York City are very hard to find. If you are in Manhattan on a Monday night and crave a Barbecue feast this is the place to try. If you go or have been for this special dinner, let us know!
The Hill Country Barbecue Market is located at 30 West 26th Street, NY, NY 10010. You may need a reservation so call in advance - perhaps well in advance - 212-255-4544. There is a website. I will link here but not at the side as this is not a regular buffet restaurant.
The Hill Country Barbecue Market has three restaurant locations - Austin, Texas, Fort Worth, Texas and,of all places, New York City. The restaurants are known for their brisket, pork, and country sides. On Monday nights they are calling this a Recession Special and from 5 pm to 10 pm you are getting unlimited portions of sliced beef brisket, pork ribs, and chicken. All of this for just $25 per person. As is typical of NY restaurants the sides are extra but are served unlimited as well and cost $2.00 each for Mac and Cheese, Chili, and Beans. Now, add all of the sides and you just increased you meal price to $31.00. But if you are willing to pass on the extras, you can leave more room for the Barbecue meats.
As I always tell my readers when I have not been there to try a restaurant but want to share a good all you can eat or buffet possibility - I have not eaten here. I am told it is very good. The All You Can Eat deal is only Monday nights and everyone at the table must be eating the unlimited special. You can not mix menu diners with all you can eat dinners at one table, and of course, you may not take food out of the restaurant that is leftover. There is live country music starting at 8:00 pm.
All you can eat Barbecue is hard to find anywhere - all you can eat restaurants in New York City are very hard to find. If you are in Manhattan on a Monday night and crave a Barbecue feast this is the place to try. If you go or have been for this special dinner, let us know!
The Hill Country Barbecue Market is located at 30 West 26th Street, NY, NY 10010. You may need a reservation so call in advance - perhaps well in advance - 212-255-4544. There is a website. I will link here but not at the side as this is not a regular buffet restaurant.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Looking for Corned Beef on St. Patrick's Day
It was St. Patrick's Day and I decided I wanted corned beef. I enjoy good corned beef. Lately I have been on a kick to have a decent corned beef sandwich. Now, there are places that I could drag my wife for what I know is going to be a good sandwich, but she does not appreciate it as much as I so I have been trying to make do with one in the local restaurants that we go to - when we are not going to buffets. Primarily they are diners - and at one time, in this area, one could get a fairly decent corned beef on rye at one of them. Not any more. What I have been given is commercial, sliced cold cut corned beef put into a microwave to make it "hot". What comes to the table is far less than is expected. At one such establishment I tried a " hot open corned beef sandwich". It arrived covered in brown beef gravy. Ycch. At another I ordered a hot corned beef on rye which around here means hot corned beef on fresh and NOT toasted rye bread. It came to the table toasted - and the corned beef had been laid on the griddle to make it hot. No, not what I had expected.
We have just had some really bad rain storms - really bad. In the midst of these storms a local town was to have a St. Patrick's Day Parade in which a group that I belong to was to march. Following that march every year, my group gets together for corned beef and cabbage made by one of the members. She makes a good corned beef - and I (and several others) were looking forward to that corned beef. The rains came and the parade did go on, but our group wisely decided to stay home and not brave the high powered winds and rain. So much for the corned beef.
So as I said in my first sentence - it was St. Patrick's Day and I wanted corned beef. I did not just want a serving of corned beef. I wanted corned beef on a buffet. Lots of luck I thought.
I started by going to the website of the buffet who in the past has had a one day feature of corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day - Old Country Buffet. I had received no email from them on their email list about this for this year. I hoped that the website would say so. Nothing. Not a mention. Not the words, corned beef. In fact, they have not had a featured menu in quite some time of any kind. Maybe they were just not mentioning it. Maybe they were afraid of the massive hoards of corned beef lovers, Irish, and the Irish at heart. Maybe. It seemed like I would have to look further.
I started doing an internet search. Corned beef + buffet + my area. Lots of references came up to each of those phrases (well not much ever comes up about buffet). And with most buffet searches that I do - there was one of my articles in the list of results - "a one day feature of corned beef at Old Country Buffet on St. Patrick's Day" - as part of another article a few years old about features. Anything else? A few local clubs were having private parties featuring this sought after meal, but other than that nothing. I tried adding "all you can eat" and the letters "AYCE" to my search. Still the same results.
When my wife got home from work I told her about my desire and suggested that we go to OCB. She said that even if they did not have corned beef, Wednesday is one of their better menu nights. She is right - as always - and the plan was set to go to OCB and hope for corned beef.
When we got to OCB it was very crowded for a Wednesday night. There were a number of people wearing green shirts and I began to gather some hope. After we found a table - which was no easy thing, I went to look at the carving area. On a carving board were the shreds and remnants of what had been a corned beef. I met up with my wife at the soup pots and she asked, "Well did you find corned beef?" I said that I found what once was corned beef and we probably missed it. Now, why would I say that? Because this OCB is notorious for not replacing something with the same item - and often the replacement is not even close to the same type of item, like rolls for chicken. We got our soup and I watched the carving station from our table to see if another corned beef would be brought out. When we had finished out bowls of soup it had not been.
We went up to the buffet servers and I went to that carving board - no employee to be seen.There were pieces of fat with some edible meat present and a few very well done pieces that had been on the ends. I took what I could find that was edible and headed back to table. As small amounts as it was after taking away what should not be eaten, I had a few bites of what was pretty good. All the while I kept my eye on that carving station.
I was not the only person there that night craving this meat. a crowd started forming around the carving area - yet, nothing had changed. It was still empty except for the few scraps that I had not taken - and no one else was taking either. But then... then... a tray came out with a whole corned beef! Those around the counter descended upon the woman who set it down on the carving board and picked up the carving knife ready to serve. We had both finished our plates and were ready to go up so I headed directly there, picked up a plate along the way and got on line. It was a large corned beef and there was plenty for the crowd that was waiting. My wife came up behind me on the line - she likes corned beef but does not eat anything with that much fat for health reasons. She asked me if it was any good. I told her that what little I had tasted was actually pretty good. She waited behind me for a slice. When I got up to the server, I asked for two slices - no sense in taking any chances. No problem, the large corned beef was still more than half there. My wife took a small slice. To go with the corned beef was the traditional cabbage and wedged boiled potatoes with a light butter sauce. I took some potatoes. I passed on the cabbage - I like it, but after my eating it, no one around me appreciates that I did. So I passed on the cabbage, both as a public service and to avoid the physical discomforts.
Corned beef is actually beef brisket that is spiced with pickle seasons and traditionally either boiled or, as some specialty delis do, steamed. It can be baked - and that is how OCB makes it. This corned beef was coated with the seasonings (much like a pastrami) and baked or roasted in an oven. This method of cooking results in corned beef that is thick and crusted on the outside. The remains of the seasonings baked onto the black and crusty surface. It is tasty but at the edge tastes more like pastrami than corned beef. Further inside, beyond the crust it gets moister and more like the traditional corned beef. I have had corned beef made this way in other parts of the country - one place was Boston (though this may just be the way that this one particular restaurant in Boston prepared it). Cut away the fat while you eat it and cut away the crusty outside, and what you have at OCB is some pretty good corned beef. Not the best, but far better than the excuses for corned beef that I have experienced locally recently.
When I looked up from my plate over toward the carving station just a few minutes after starting on that first slice, I saw that once again the carving board was left with just remnants and shreds. But, shortly, another whole corned beef was brought out - and they actually kept on coming out through the time that we were there. I would say that at least five were brought out while we were eating - and each time there was a crowd at the carving station to get the first slices from each new one.
That first whole one that I had slices from was the moistest of all of the rest that I tried. Other slices from others that I had were drier - more well done. But they were still good.
One thing that goes along with corned beef for many is mustard - except for my wife who hates mustard. With those first shreds that I took, I went to the condiment bar to fill a small serving cup with mustard. The tray of mustard was empty with the exception of a thin coating at the bottom, which also happened to be coating a lemon that someone had dropped in from the condiment tray behind the mustard. I scraped what I could into my cup. Later that tray was even emptier, with many trying to do the same as I had - and of course, that lemon remained there at the bottom - more visible now. I must say that one dip of my fork of corned beef into the mustard cup came up with mustard and a lemon pit. I spit the pit into my plate and continued eating - nothing was going to spoil this. At one point I went up for more mustard. Some time had passed and I figured that it had been replaced - especially since several very large men were telling the women working around the buffet servers that the mustard tray was empty. Mostly it looked like the women were ignoring them - or did not understand what the men were saying to them in English - as this is a problem at this particular OCB. As I approached the mustard tray - still empty - another man was there looking for the same thing. He had tried communicating the need to one of the women who went about wiping up the counter below the drink machines there behind the condiment bar. After about five minutes we walked away in frustration - never getting any acknowledgment of what was needed. A while later I went back to see if anything had changed and in fact, someone had made the need known well enough that the tray was now brimming full of mustard. As I took some I wondered if the lemon was still there at the bottom.
I ate more corned beef than I should have. I had a good time doing it. I satisfied the urge, at least for the time being.
So despite the lack of anything on OCB's website, next St. Patrick's Day if you are looking for all you can eat corned beef (and all of the rest) you will probably find it at Old Country Buffet.
We have just had some really bad rain storms - really bad. In the midst of these storms a local town was to have a St. Patrick's Day Parade in which a group that I belong to was to march. Following that march every year, my group gets together for corned beef and cabbage made by one of the members. She makes a good corned beef - and I (and several others) were looking forward to that corned beef. The rains came and the parade did go on, but our group wisely decided to stay home and not brave the high powered winds and rain. So much for the corned beef.
So as I said in my first sentence - it was St. Patrick's Day and I wanted corned beef. I did not just want a serving of corned beef. I wanted corned beef on a buffet. Lots of luck I thought.
I started by going to the website of the buffet who in the past has had a one day feature of corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day - Old Country Buffet. I had received no email from them on their email list about this for this year. I hoped that the website would say so. Nothing. Not a mention. Not the words, corned beef. In fact, they have not had a featured menu in quite some time of any kind. Maybe they were just not mentioning it. Maybe they were afraid of the massive hoards of corned beef lovers, Irish, and the Irish at heart. Maybe. It seemed like I would have to look further.
I started doing an internet search. Corned beef + buffet + my area. Lots of references came up to each of those phrases (well not much ever comes up about buffet). And with most buffet searches that I do - there was one of my articles in the list of results - "a one day feature of corned beef at Old Country Buffet on St. Patrick's Day" - as part of another article a few years old about features. Anything else? A few local clubs were having private parties featuring this sought after meal, but other than that nothing. I tried adding "all you can eat" and the letters "AYCE" to my search. Still the same results.
When my wife got home from work I told her about my desire and suggested that we go to OCB. She said that even if they did not have corned beef, Wednesday is one of their better menu nights. She is right - as always - and the plan was set to go to OCB and hope for corned beef.
When we got to OCB it was very crowded for a Wednesday night. There were a number of people wearing green shirts and I began to gather some hope. After we found a table - which was no easy thing, I went to look at the carving area. On a carving board were the shreds and remnants of what had been a corned beef. I met up with my wife at the soup pots and she asked, "Well did you find corned beef?" I said that I found what once was corned beef and we probably missed it. Now, why would I say that? Because this OCB is notorious for not replacing something with the same item - and often the replacement is not even close to the same type of item, like rolls for chicken. We got our soup and I watched the carving station from our table to see if another corned beef would be brought out. When we had finished out bowls of soup it had not been.
We went up to the buffet servers and I went to that carving board - no employee to be seen.There were pieces of fat with some edible meat present and a few very well done pieces that had been on the ends. I took what I could find that was edible and headed back to table. As small amounts as it was after taking away what should not be eaten, I had a few bites of what was pretty good. All the while I kept my eye on that carving station.
I was not the only person there that night craving this meat. a crowd started forming around the carving area - yet, nothing had changed. It was still empty except for the few scraps that I had not taken - and no one else was taking either. But then... then... a tray came out with a whole corned beef! Those around the counter descended upon the woman who set it down on the carving board and picked up the carving knife ready to serve. We had both finished our plates and were ready to go up so I headed directly there, picked up a plate along the way and got on line. It was a large corned beef and there was plenty for the crowd that was waiting. My wife came up behind me on the line - she likes corned beef but does not eat anything with that much fat for health reasons. She asked me if it was any good. I told her that what little I had tasted was actually pretty good. She waited behind me for a slice. When I got up to the server, I asked for two slices - no sense in taking any chances. No problem, the large corned beef was still more than half there. My wife took a small slice. To go with the corned beef was the traditional cabbage and wedged boiled potatoes with a light butter sauce. I took some potatoes. I passed on the cabbage - I like it, but after my eating it, no one around me appreciates that I did. So I passed on the cabbage, both as a public service and to avoid the physical discomforts.
Corned beef is actually beef brisket that is spiced with pickle seasons and traditionally either boiled or, as some specialty delis do, steamed. It can be baked - and that is how OCB makes it. This corned beef was coated with the seasonings (much like a pastrami) and baked or roasted in an oven. This method of cooking results in corned beef that is thick and crusted on the outside. The remains of the seasonings baked onto the black and crusty surface. It is tasty but at the edge tastes more like pastrami than corned beef. Further inside, beyond the crust it gets moister and more like the traditional corned beef. I have had corned beef made this way in other parts of the country - one place was Boston (though this may just be the way that this one particular restaurant in Boston prepared it). Cut away the fat while you eat it and cut away the crusty outside, and what you have at OCB is some pretty good corned beef. Not the best, but far better than the excuses for corned beef that I have experienced locally recently.
When I looked up from my plate over toward the carving station just a few minutes after starting on that first slice, I saw that once again the carving board was left with just remnants and shreds. But, shortly, another whole corned beef was brought out - and they actually kept on coming out through the time that we were there. I would say that at least five were brought out while we were eating - and each time there was a crowd at the carving station to get the first slices from each new one.
That first whole one that I had slices from was the moistest of all of the rest that I tried. Other slices from others that I had were drier - more well done. But they were still good.
One thing that goes along with corned beef for many is mustard - except for my wife who hates mustard. With those first shreds that I took, I went to the condiment bar to fill a small serving cup with mustard. The tray of mustard was empty with the exception of a thin coating at the bottom, which also happened to be coating a lemon that someone had dropped in from the condiment tray behind the mustard. I scraped what I could into my cup. Later that tray was even emptier, with many trying to do the same as I had - and of course, that lemon remained there at the bottom - more visible now. I must say that one dip of my fork of corned beef into the mustard cup came up with mustard and a lemon pit. I spit the pit into my plate and continued eating - nothing was going to spoil this. At one point I went up for more mustard. Some time had passed and I figured that it had been replaced - especially since several very large men were telling the women working around the buffet servers that the mustard tray was empty. Mostly it looked like the women were ignoring them - or did not understand what the men were saying to them in English - as this is a problem at this particular OCB. As I approached the mustard tray - still empty - another man was there looking for the same thing. He had tried communicating the need to one of the women who went about wiping up the counter below the drink machines there behind the condiment bar. After about five minutes we walked away in frustration - never getting any acknowledgment of what was needed. A while later I went back to see if anything had changed and in fact, someone had made the need known well enough that the tray was now brimming full of mustard. As I took some I wondered if the lemon was still there at the bottom.
I ate more corned beef than I should have. I had a good time doing it. I satisfied the urge, at least for the time being.
So despite the lack of anything on OCB's website, next St. Patrick's Day if you are looking for all you can eat corned beef (and all of the rest) you will probably find it at Old Country Buffet.
Friday, April 09, 2010
One of my Favorite Buffets - Good Taste Buffet, Commack, NY
One of my favorite "local" buffets is a Chinese buffet in Commack, NY - about twenty miles each way from my home. I wrote about this buffet first in 2006 and since I have been there a number of times since that first happy discovery, I keep thinking that I have updated the review. I have mentioned the buffet in several articles, but I have not actually gone through a re-visit review. Since gas prices are lower than they were in 2006 I have been able to go to this buffet more frequently.
In November 2009 we set out one night on this long drive to go to Good Taste, arrived in the parking lot, got out of the car and walked up to what seemed to be a dark restaurant. In the restaurant next door on this "strip" mall, we saw that there had what appeared to be a serious fire in that restaurant with the windows and front all boarded up. Good Taste was closed and a sign on the window said nothing more than that. Oh boy. Some time later we were in the area again and drove past and it was still closed.
On this night I decided to try calling and see if they had reopened. Someone answered the phone! Yes, they are open again. No question about where we were going to go to eat!
Why do I like this restaurant so much? The quality of the food, the selection of the dishes, the spare ribs, and the value in the price make this Chinese buffet stand out from all others on Long Island - including the big, high priced Chinese, so called international buffets. Now, you notice out of all the foods I could mention, I mention the spare ribs. I wrote an article in April 2009 about these ribs. Yes, they are that good. But it is more than the spare ribs here.
Let's talk about the restaurant. First thing to note is that there is no evidence inside of any damage that may have resulted from the fire in the restaurant next door (that restaurant is still boarded up and does not look like it will ever reopen). There is no odor of smoke inside. The wall touching the wall of the other restaurant looks freshly painted white - but the very large, lighted photographs of Hong Kong and China on the wall look untouched. Everything inside is just as I described back in 2006. The layout of the buffet servers and the dining room is the same.
There has been a price increase - add a dollar to the prices that I listed in 2006. In three years that is not too bad an increase considering the increases in the other buffets in this area.
Food selection is has pretty much stayed the same as well over the past three years - with some new dishes added or substituted. There is a nice selection of sushi - a number of rolls and fish on rice. There are several vegetable rolls and a few spicy rolls. In addition there is sliced raw salmon on ice - nice to take if you like the fish and don't want to fill up on all of that rice.
Hot appetizers are plenty here. I do not see shrimp toast at any other buffet but here. There are several types of steamed dumplings still including the shrimp dumplings with whole shrimp inside and there is a variety of pan fried dumplings as well. I must still complain that there is no dumpling sauce to be found anywhere in this restaurant. There is a tray in the condiments section that is marked dumpling sauce, but this (after trying it countless times) is only soy sauce and in no way tastes like dumpling sauce. There is tempura, fried lobster balls (I resist making any joke here), sweet dumplings, and more along with the standards like egg rolls (nice ones) and spring rolls.
Then there are the spare ribs. I will not go on again about how good these spare ribs are, but I am not the only one in this restaurant that makes a meal out of these spare ribs and little else of the many excellent dishes that are offered. These are old fashioned, Chinese restaurant spare ribs. They are thick and full of meat, crispy on the outside and no sauce on them of any kind. None of that gloppy red sugar sauce that all other Chinese buffets have a need to saturate their spare ribs in is found here on these ribs. If you really want that sauce, there is a tray of boneless ribs close by and they are graced with this over-sweet sauce. There is real Chinese duck sauce and real hot mustard at the condiment section if you want to sauce your spareribs to taste. None is needed, but if you want sweet you can have it and if you want hot and spicy you can do that too.
If you are a crab leg lover there are substantial, snow crab legs on the hot buffet. One night that we were here they used the cluster tops to make salt and pepper crab - the cluster is coated in a batter with salt and pepper and fried. Break through the shell and suck out the crab meat with the taste of the salt in the batter on the shell and it is very good. There are also salt and pepper blue crabs - usually in the same serving tray. These are good too, but blue crabs only have meet in the sides and usually this is just a small nugget of crab meat.
There are a variety of hot entrees from the common chicken with broccoli - a staple at all Chinese buffets - to more exotic dishes ranging from Cantonese to the spicy dishes of China. There is a very nice shrimp with lobster sauce with meaty shrimp and a mild and egg filled lobster sauce. There are often additional entree dishes brought out on dishes and placed between the filled hot server trays. These tend to be the more unusual dishes. When you see one come out go up to get it while it remains hot. These special dishes do stay warm while on the hot server but they do tend to cool down some if they sit. There are also carvings at the end of the last hot buffet server. There is ham and a carved steak. You carve these yourself. Also here is Peking Duck. Overall, there is a good assortment of meats and seafood to choose from in the entrees.
Deserts take up a long buffet server along the back wall and there is a soft serve ice cream machine at the end of that counter. The desserts are a mix of the usual little squares of sheet cake common to most Chinese and Asian buffets and some of their own backing. There are home-baked almond cookies. The dessert is adequate but the meal is the focus is here.
Service is good. There are plenty of napkins brought to your table and if they are not there when you sit down, just ask your server for some. Dishes are picked up quickly. Soda dispensers are at the buffet counter and while this is not to be a serve yourself soda station, if your server is busy and you want more soda, I have seen many go up and fill their glass. I have found that the server will bring you refills promptly anyway.
This is a restaurant worth going out of your way for. It may just be the best Chinese buffet on Long Island and maybe in other areas as well. Many agree with me.
The restaurant is open seven days a week and the hours are until 10 pm on weeknights and 11 on Friday and Saturday. The last dinners are let in up to an hour before closing. There is no website, but the telephone number is 631-543-9583.
In November 2009 we set out one night on this long drive to go to Good Taste, arrived in the parking lot, got out of the car and walked up to what seemed to be a dark restaurant. In the restaurant next door on this "strip" mall, we saw that there had what appeared to be a serious fire in that restaurant with the windows and front all boarded up. Good Taste was closed and a sign on the window said nothing more than that. Oh boy. Some time later we were in the area again and drove past and it was still closed.
On this night I decided to try calling and see if they had reopened. Someone answered the phone! Yes, they are open again. No question about where we were going to go to eat!
Why do I like this restaurant so much? The quality of the food, the selection of the dishes, the spare ribs, and the value in the price make this Chinese buffet stand out from all others on Long Island - including the big, high priced Chinese, so called international buffets. Now, you notice out of all the foods I could mention, I mention the spare ribs. I wrote an article in April 2009 about these ribs. Yes, they are that good. But it is more than the spare ribs here.
Let's talk about the restaurant. First thing to note is that there is no evidence inside of any damage that may have resulted from the fire in the restaurant next door (that restaurant is still boarded up and does not look like it will ever reopen). There is no odor of smoke inside. The wall touching the wall of the other restaurant looks freshly painted white - but the very large, lighted photographs of Hong Kong and China on the wall look untouched. Everything inside is just as I described back in 2006. The layout of the buffet servers and the dining room is the same.
There has been a price increase - add a dollar to the prices that I listed in 2006. In three years that is not too bad an increase considering the increases in the other buffets in this area.
Food selection is has pretty much stayed the same as well over the past three years - with some new dishes added or substituted. There is a nice selection of sushi - a number of rolls and fish on rice. There are several vegetable rolls and a few spicy rolls. In addition there is sliced raw salmon on ice - nice to take if you like the fish and don't want to fill up on all of that rice.
Hot appetizers are plenty here. I do not see shrimp toast at any other buffet but here. There are several types of steamed dumplings still including the shrimp dumplings with whole shrimp inside and there is a variety of pan fried dumplings as well. I must still complain that there is no dumpling sauce to be found anywhere in this restaurant. There is a tray in the condiments section that is marked dumpling sauce, but this (after trying it countless times) is only soy sauce and in no way tastes like dumpling sauce. There is tempura, fried lobster balls (I resist making any joke here), sweet dumplings, and more along with the standards like egg rolls (nice ones) and spring rolls.
Then there are the spare ribs. I will not go on again about how good these spare ribs are, but I am not the only one in this restaurant that makes a meal out of these spare ribs and little else of the many excellent dishes that are offered. These are old fashioned, Chinese restaurant spare ribs. They are thick and full of meat, crispy on the outside and no sauce on them of any kind. None of that gloppy red sugar sauce that all other Chinese buffets have a need to saturate their spare ribs in is found here on these ribs. If you really want that sauce, there is a tray of boneless ribs close by and they are graced with this over-sweet sauce. There is real Chinese duck sauce and real hot mustard at the condiment section if you want to sauce your spareribs to taste. None is needed, but if you want sweet you can have it and if you want hot and spicy you can do that too.
If you are a crab leg lover there are substantial, snow crab legs on the hot buffet. One night that we were here they used the cluster tops to make salt and pepper crab - the cluster is coated in a batter with salt and pepper and fried. Break through the shell and suck out the crab meat with the taste of the salt in the batter on the shell and it is very good. There are also salt and pepper blue crabs - usually in the same serving tray. These are good too, but blue crabs only have meet in the sides and usually this is just a small nugget of crab meat.
There are a variety of hot entrees from the common chicken with broccoli - a staple at all Chinese buffets - to more exotic dishes ranging from Cantonese to the spicy dishes of China. There is a very nice shrimp with lobster sauce with meaty shrimp and a mild and egg filled lobster sauce. There are often additional entree dishes brought out on dishes and placed between the filled hot server trays. These tend to be the more unusual dishes. When you see one come out go up to get it while it remains hot. These special dishes do stay warm while on the hot server but they do tend to cool down some if they sit. There are also carvings at the end of the last hot buffet server. There is ham and a carved steak. You carve these yourself. Also here is Peking Duck. Overall, there is a good assortment of meats and seafood to choose from in the entrees.
Deserts take up a long buffet server along the back wall and there is a soft serve ice cream machine at the end of that counter. The desserts are a mix of the usual little squares of sheet cake common to most Chinese and Asian buffets and some of their own backing. There are home-baked almond cookies. The dessert is adequate but the meal is the focus is here.
Service is good. There are plenty of napkins brought to your table and if they are not there when you sit down, just ask your server for some. Dishes are picked up quickly. Soda dispensers are at the buffet counter and while this is not to be a serve yourself soda station, if your server is busy and you want more soda, I have seen many go up and fill their glass. I have found that the server will bring you refills promptly anyway.
This is a restaurant worth going out of your way for. It may just be the best Chinese buffet on Long Island and maybe in other areas as well. Many agree with me.
The restaurant is open seven days a week and the hours are until 10 pm on weeknights and 11 on Friday and Saturday. The last dinners are let in up to an hour before closing. There is no website, but the telephone number is 631-543-9583.
Friday, April 02, 2010
A Reader Speaks Out to Support Buffet Europa
I get a lot of comments and emails telling me how those of you near Buffet Europa have enjoyed this buffet. I just received an email from one of our readers who is passionate about keeping this restaurant going and had some ideas to share. Since this is my forum arena for such as that I want to share with you what this reader wrote. Now, please understand, that there is NO indication what so ever that there is any idea that Buffet Europa is not doing just as fine as it can - and may be very happy with how business is. But, not seeing this gem of a restaurant packed as it SHOULD BE we have concern - and we do not want to lose this wonderful place. So - here is what this reader wrote -
I live about 20 minutes away from Buffet Europa. First let me say I almost never go on e-mail and it's taking a great effort for me to type this. That being said, you can tell I feel passionately about Buffet Europa!!!!
Buffet Europa is AWESOME and everything you say about it is true: food authentic, fresh, hot and delicious; owners warm and friendly; restaurant clean (including bathrooms); atmosphere nice with soft, pleasant music playing in the background; and EVERYTHING included for about $16!!! ( I go on weekends). I can't understand why there aren't more people enjoying this FABULOUS restaurant :( It makes me sooooo sad because I fear it will close and we will lose this gem.
I have had the same experience as you i.e. being almost the only (and often THE only) occupied table in the restaurant no matter what time of night I go whether it be a Friday or Saturday. I "psych" myself up to go in even if I feel it will be awkward. When I peek through the window just before I enter, I hope there will be some other diners there to take the "spotlight" off my family and me. We continue to go despite the awkwardness because the food is so spectacular!!!
Now..what to do about this..one would think "word of mouth" advertising might be enough..apparently not so. They do advertise locally but that doesn't seem to have helped either. When I asked about putting up a sign on Route 1, they said that they weren't allowed to ( I don't remember the reason). Maybe the LOCATION i.e. New Brunswick is the problem!!
I'm certainly not a city planner nor do I claim to know anything about the restaurant business BUT maybe they should move to a place where they would be more greatly appreciated. A sign of a good Chinese restaurant is that it is populated by Chinese people, so perhaps in that same way, a GREAT Polish restaurant like Buffet Europa would benefit by being in a Polish area. For example, Linden N.J. has a BIG Polish population who would really appreciate FABULOUS Polish food without having to cook, clean, etc. I know Buffet Europa's concept is to provide new dining experiences for the general public, but this idea apparently isn't working too well and we all don't want them to close!! ( Also, selfishly speaking, Linden is close enough to us so we could still eat there!!).
Of course, I haven't discussed this with the owners; it is kind of awkward, and in addition, I don't know the conditions of their lease or any other factors that might affect their decision with respect to the business. BUT pardon the pun, it is definitely food for thought.
Here's to saving Buffet Europa!!!
-----
Great ideas and certainly all true. I know that this site has had some influences and I am hoping that what this reader has written and what I have written about this wonderful restaurant will have some positive influence on business at Buffet Europa. I also know that the owners have read some of the articles here about their restaurant and hopefully some of the ideas here - and our support will reach them. No matter what we want to be able to continue to enjoy this restaurant for a long time to come! (Now, I have to go and check to see if Linden is easy for me to get to when I go to NJ...)
Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. Their telephone number is 732-940-1122. They do have a website and the link is listed at the side of this page.
I live about 20 minutes away from Buffet Europa. First let me say I almost never go on e-mail and it's taking a great effort for me to type this. That being said, you can tell I feel passionately about Buffet Europa!!!!
Buffet Europa is AWESOME and everything you say about it is true: food authentic, fresh, hot and delicious; owners warm and friendly; restaurant clean (including bathrooms); atmosphere nice with soft, pleasant music playing in the background; and EVERYTHING included for about $16!!! ( I go on weekends). I can't understand why there aren't more people enjoying this FABULOUS restaurant :( It makes me sooooo sad because I fear it will close and we will lose this gem.
I have had the same experience as you i.e. being almost the only (and often THE only) occupied table in the restaurant no matter what time of night I go whether it be a Friday or Saturday. I "psych" myself up to go in even if I feel it will be awkward. When I peek through the window just before I enter, I hope there will be some other diners there to take the "spotlight" off my family and me. We continue to go despite the awkwardness because the food is so spectacular!!!
Now..what to do about this..one would think "word of mouth" advertising might be enough..apparently not so. They do advertise locally but that doesn't seem to have helped either. When I asked about putting up a sign on Route 1, they said that they weren't allowed to ( I don't remember the reason). Maybe the LOCATION i.e. New Brunswick is the problem!!
I'm certainly not a city planner nor do I claim to know anything about the restaurant business BUT maybe they should move to a place where they would be more greatly appreciated. A sign of a good Chinese restaurant is that it is populated by Chinese people, so perhaps in that same way, a GREAT Polish restaurant like Buffet Europa would benefit by being in a Polish area. For example, Linden N.J. has a BIG Polish population who would really appreciate FABULOUS Polish food without having to cook, clean, etc. I know Buffet Europa's concept is to provide new dining experiences for the general public, but this idea apparently isn't working too well and we all don't want them to close!! ( Also, selfishly speaking, Linden is close enough to us so we could still eat there!!).
Of course, I haven't discussed this with the owners; it is kind of awkward, and in addition, I don't know the conditions of their lease or any other factors that might affect their decision with respect to the business. BUT pardon the pun, it is definitely food for thought.
Here's to saving Buffet Europa!!!
-----
Great ideas and certainly all true. I know that this site has had some influences and I am hoping that what this reader has written and what I have written about this wonderful restaurant will have some positive influence on business at Buffet Europa. I also know that the owners have read some of the articles here about their restaurant and hopefully some of the ideas here - and our support will reach them. No matter what we want to be able to continue to enjoy this restaurant for a long time to come! (Now, I have to go and check to see if Linden is easy for me to get to when I go to NJ...)
Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. Their telephone number is 732-940-1122. They do have a website and the link is listed at the side of this page.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Dilemma in New Jersey
We had a trip planned to mid-New Jersey - basically the area west and a bit north of New York City. There are two buffets in this area that I enjoy very much - Buffet Europa and Makkoli Japanese. I had just recently been to Buffet Europa and despite the strong temptation to go again, I felt that it would be good to find a new buffet to try and share with everyone. On my previous trip - when I went to Buffet Europa - we saw another Japanese Sushi buffet (which I will not name). It looked nice as we passed it on the road and at that time thought that we might try it on the next trip through. One of my readers is close enough to this area to make recommendations and has been in contact with me through this site giving me suggestions for over a year now. I went back to his emails to check his recommendations and found this one on the list. I sent him an email and asked if he had been back there in the year since his first visit. He had not - but he liked it. I highly respect his opinion and I know from other recommendations that he has given that what I will find will be good.
I decided several days before the trip that I would check out as much as I could about this buffet to find recent opinions - a lot of things can change about a buffet in a year. I also wanted to check on what to expect being served since, as regular readers know, my wife is a very picky eater - the only seafood that she will eat is shrimp - and there should be some variety of non-seafood dishes for her as well. All that I could find with exhaustive searches on this restaurant were reviews all over a year old and consistently they were poor reviews. (This is why I am not naming the restaurant.) And each one said, "Skip this place and go to Makkoli." Yet, my email friend told me that the restaurant is good - and I did see his review on line to this effect as well as the recommendation that he gave me. I got a little nervous - it is one thing to eat and not feel so well close to home, but when there is a two hour trip between you and your house on roads without rest-stop restrooms, you have to give where and what you are eating careful c0nsideration. Still his recommendations have been reliable so I searched some more for information. The restaurant does have a website and I went there - turned off the annoying music that it insisted on playing for me and took a look around. Nice photos and what looked to me to be a nice restaurant as it is shown. I looked at the on-line menu. There was a variety of sushi and sashimi- even a bit more extensive than people had described in their poor reviews. The entree list was a bit short - and it was just about all fish - no shrimp listed - and two beef dishes, one of which is prime rib (which to most would be welcomed - but not by my wife). I still was not discouraged. I looked for a price. No prices were listed. There was a way to contact the restaurant manager by email so I clicked on that link and sent the manager an email asking what the dinner prices are and if three is an hibachi grill (which would resolve any selection problems for my wife). Shortly later, my email bounced back to me with a server message from the restaurant stating that they would not accept my email. Hmm. I use a standard email address when I contact restaurants - nothing that should be filtered out. If there was no way to email this restaurant or they were bouncing back emails - perhaps this is a sign.
I went back to some of the results that I had found on searches for this restaurant to see if somewhere I missed a price. I came across another customer review site that I had not come across before and found still more poor reviews of the place. One of them mentioned a price- around $20.00. Again, reviewers said, "Skip this place and go to Makkoli." Was somebody - everybody trying to tell me something?
I still spoke with my wife and told her what we would find on the buffet and asked her what she would eat. She is very good to me and said not to worry about her, she will find something to eat - but I know what she will and will not eat and to pay $20 a person for her not to eat or to eat very little was just not right. So I decided to look for someplace else new in the area.
I started to search restaurants in this area - buffet restaurants to be specific. After I eliminated results for reviews on THIS site and from my readers at other sites quoting or referring to my reviews of the restaurants that I have written about in the area, I came down to a very small handful of Chinese buffets. If I was willing to travel a distance further in the direction away from home there was a really nice looking Italian buffet, but this was just too far in the wrong direction and even an independent pizza buffet - again too far. There was one of the lobster buffets that I have written about but never gone to but the price is just too far above my current means. There was also a really nice looking Japanese buffet that got great reviews, but when I looked at their website found out that they are well over $30 for a meal which is a bit over my budget for a non-special occasion. So I started looking at those few Chinese buffets remaining on the list of possibilities. Each had so-so reviews. I am never sure if bad reviews are the result of someone with a chip on thier shoulder because of something that may have happened when they were at the restaurant that has really nothing to do with the actual quality of the restaurant or the food - or the review is on the level and not biased beyond being unhappy with the meal. When I see several this way from various customers I do take notice. The one most likely candidate had fair reviews and some not so good reviews - and many said - "Skip this place and go to Makkoli."
I decided that I must take everyone's advice and we were going to go to Makkoli. I have been to Makkoli several times. We both have always enjoyed Makkoli - and despite my great desire to find another buffet to share with you, we were not going to find one in that area.
I will tell you a little about that night at Makkoli. The restaurant is as good as it has been. There was a big crowd for a Friday night, but no waiting to get in. There is a large assortment of sushi and sashimi - including a number of unusual (at least buffet sushi unusual) fish. On the selection of prepared Japanese salads there was a fish that I have only had once before - jelly fish. I do not know if this was raw and marinated in the saled or cooked at all. It was gelatinous and cold so it may have been raw. I had it once many, many years ago in a Chinese buffet where it was deep and crispy fried. I did take a very tiny bit on my plate to try. It was very neutral in flavor and mildly chewy. I was not enjoying the texture or the lack of an identifiable taste so I only ate the one piece.
My wife had no problem finding things that she likes. We both started the meal with a bowl of Udon Noodle Soup - which is just wonderful. I thought all through the meal about going back at the end for another bowl, but as I wrote just recently, I found that if I did that, I would be going for "one udon soup too far" - AGAIN. No, this meal was more than filling and in my zest to try a bit of everything that I like I eventually found myself too full for anything else even to try another sampling of a favorite.
Now, I did have something that IF I wanted to have eaten more at this meal, I should not have had because of the quantity that you are giving. We both went up to the hibachi grill. I asked the chef for steak and vegetables and my wife asked for chicken and vegetables. He took out a whole steak - about a half inch thick and at least seven or eight inches long and four inches wide. This went on the grill all for me. He took out what was the equivalent of a full chicken breast or more and put that on the grill for my wife. She said to me, I hope that is not all for me. It was. With the vegetables added to the grill and then these portions put on plates for us - we each were given a dinner plate full and piled up. As a meal in itself fine. As a complement to all of the rest that we has eaten and were planning on eating, it was really too much. (I have to say, too, that the steak was very tough and not a good choice. It tasted great but was hard to chew. Her chicken was much better.)
All and all we had another great meal at Makkoli. In the year since we were there last the price has not gone up at all. The food is good and the meal is certainly more than one can eat.
It will be some time before we are in this area of New Jersey again - but my first choice - is Buffet Europa. If you are in the mood for Japanese - go to Makkoli.
I decided several days before the trip that I would check out as much as I could about this buffet to find recent opinions - a lot of things can change about a buffet in a year. I also wanted to check on what to expect being served since, as regular readers know, my wife is a very picky eater - the only seafood that she will eat is shrimp - and there should be some variety of non-seafood dishes for her as well. All that I could find with exhaustive searches on this restaurant were reviews all over a year old and consistently they were poor reviews. (This is why I am not naming the restaurant.) And each one said, "Skip this place and go to Makkoli." Yet, my email friend told me that the restaurant is good - and I did see his review on line to this effect as well as the recommendation that he gave me. I got a little nervous - it is one thing to eat and not feel so well close to home, but when there is a two hour trip between you and your house on roads without rest-stop restrooms, you have to give where and what you are eating careful c0nsideration. Still his recommendations have been reliable so I searched some more for information. The restaurant does have a website and I went there - turned off the annoying music that it insisted on playing for me and took a look around. Nice photos and what looked to me to be a nice restaurant as it is shown. I looked at the on-line menu. There was a variety of sushi and sashimi- even a bit more extensive than people had described in their poor reviews. The entree list was a bit short - and it was just about all fish - no shrimp listed - and two beef dishes, one of which is prime rib (which to most would be welcomed - but not by my wife). I still was not discouraged. I looked for a price. No prices were listed. There was a way to contact the restaurant manager by email so I clicked on that link and sent the manager an email asking what the dinner prices are and if three is an hibachi grill (which would resolve any selection problems for my wife). Shortly later, my email bounced back to me with a server message from the restaurant stating that they would not accept my email. Hmm. I use a standard email address when I contact restaurants - nothing that should be filtered out. If there was no way to email this restaurant or they were bouncing back emails - perhaps this is a sign.
I went back to some of the results that I had found on searches for this restaurant to see if somewhere I missed a price. I came across another customer review site that I had not come across before and found still more poor reviews of the place. One of them mentioned a price- around $20.00. Again, reviewers said, "Skip this place and go to Makkoli." Was somebody - everybody trying to tell me something?
I still spoke with my wife and told her what we would find on the buffet and asked her what she would eat. She is very good to me and said not to worry about her, she will find something to eat - but I know what she will and will not eat and to pay $20 a person for her not to eat or to eat very little was just not right. So I decided to look for someplace else new in the area.
I started to search restaurants in this area - buffet restaurants to be specific. After I eliminated results for reviews on THIS site and from my readers at other sites quoting or referring to my reviews of the restaurants that I have written about in the area, I came down to a very small handful of Chinese buffets. If I was willing to travel a distance further in the direction away from home there was a really nice looking Italian buffet, but this was just too far in the wrong direction and even an independent pizza buffet - again too far. There was one of the lobster buffets that I have written about but never gone to but the price is just too far above my current means. There was also a really nice looking Japanese buffet that got great reviews, but when I looked at their website found out that they are well over $30 for a meal which is a bit over my budget for a non-special occasion. So I started looking at those few Chinese buffets remaining on the list of possibilities. Each had so-so reviews. I am never sure if bad reviews are the result of someone with a chip on thier shoulder because of something that may have happened when they were at the restaurant that has really nothing to do with the actual quality of the restaurant or the food - or the review is on the level and not biased beyond being unhappy with the meal. When I see several this way from various customers I do take notice. The one most likely candidate had fair reviews and some not so good reviews - and many said - "Skip this place and go to Makkoli."
I decided that I must take everyone's advice and we were going to go to Makkoli. I have been to Makkoli several times. We both have always enjoyed Makkoli - and despite my great desire to find another buffet to share with you, we were not going to find one in that area.
I will tell you a little about that night at Makkoli. The restaurant is as good as it has been. There was a big crowd for a Friday night, but no waiting to get in. There is a large assortment of sushi and sashimi - including a number of unusual (at least buffet sushi unusual) fish. On the selection of prepared Japanese salads there was a fish that I have only had once before - jelly fish. I do not know if this was raw and marinated in the saled or cooked at all. It was gelatinous and cold so it may have been raw. I had it once many, many years ago in a Chinese buffet where it was deep and crispy fried. I did take a very tiny bit on my plate to try. It was very neutral in flavor and mildly chewy. I was not enjoying the texture or the lack of an identifiable taste so I only ate the one piece.
My wife had no problem finding things that she likes. We both started the meal with a bowl of Udon Noodle Soup - which is just wonderful. I thought all through the meal about going back at the end for another bowl, but as I wrote just recently, I found that if I did that, I would be going for "one udon soup too far" - AGAIN. No, this meal was more than filling and in my zest to try a bit of everything that I like I eventually found myself too full for anything else even to try another sampling of a favorite.
Now, I did have something that IF I wanted to have eaten more at this meal, I should not have had because of the quantity that you are giving. We both went up to the hibachi grill. I asked the chef for steak and vegetables and my wife asked for chicken and vegetables. He took out a whole steak - about a half inch thick and at least seven or eight inches long and four inches wide. This went on the grill all for me. He took out what was the equivalent of a full chicken breast or more and put that on the grill for my wife. She said to me, I hope that is not all for me. It was. With the vegetables added to the grill and then these portions put on plates for us - we each were given a dinner plate full and piled up. As a meal in itself fine. As a complement to all of the rest that we has eaten and were planning on eating, it was really too much. (I have to say, too, that the steak was very tough and not a good choice. It tasted great but was hard to chew. Her chicken was much better.)
All and all we had another great meal at Makkoli. In the year since we were there last the price has not gone up at all. The food is good and the meal is certainly more than one can eat.
It will be some time before we are in this area of New Jersey again - but my first choice - is Buffet Europa. If you are in the mood for Japanese - go to Makkoli.
Friday, March 19, 2010
THEY ARE TRYING HARD TO ENTICE YOU AT BUFFT EUROPA
Our pick for Best Small Buffet for 2009 was Buffet Europa, located in North Brunswick, NJ. (See article) As I have said many times before, this is a buffet experience unlike most others. The food! The Food! THE FOOD!
I had an opportunity to be there again recently. I was very surprised to see that they are in need of customers and support. The restaurant is still wonderful. The food is still excellent. The atmosphere is unlike the chain buffets. The cuisine in European with a leaning toward Polish on Friday nights and a leaning toward Italian on Saturday nights. The owners - who as I have mentioned in my other articles, work the whole place themselves - are trying extremely hard to get customers in the door. They have lowered the weeknight buffet price - Tuesday to Thursday to $8.99! This is unbelievable. This is the FULL buffet from soup to salad to hot entrees and sides to wonderful desserts and it even includes the soft drinks. Why have they done this? It is obvious. They need to increase their business.
They have cut their weeknight - Tuesday to Thursday - hours to close at 7:00 pm. Friday and Saturday nights are still until 9:00 pm. They no longer are opened at all on Mondays. They had been closed for dinner on Mondays - now they are closed. They are still closed on Sundays, but do catering on Sundays in the restaurant. They have also added teen and adult dances on some Friday and Saturday nights after 10:00 pm.
We went in this time on a Friday night. When we entered there was just one other diner in the whole restaurant. We were warmly and personally welcomed by the owner and offered any table we wished. My heart sank a bit as I had hoped to find the place jumping. I have had readers contact me to say that they are going there and have been there - and each has has wonderful things to say about the restaurant. To find really no one in the restaurant at a little after 6:00 pm - dinner time - on a Friday night - I sigh when I think of it. I want so much for this restaurant to succeed because it is THAT GOOD and that different.
If this were a buffet that I had never been to before I might have hesitated to go in seeing no one inside. My concern always is if the food is out on the buffet server and no one is taking it, it may be sitting too long. I had no reluctance to go in and sit down here. I knew that with the personal attention that the food here gets it would be fresh and wonderful as always - AND IT WAS! Everything was moist, stirred, and hot.
As we dined other tables filled but there never really were more than three tables occupied the whole time we were there. This is not as it had been on previous visits - and my first visit had been at this same time of the year. Before while the small restaurant was never full, there were a number of tables occupied.
The price on Friday and Saturday nights for the buffet is $15.99. This includes unlimited soft drinks that you take yourself. This is the price that all nights had once been. At this price you are getting excellent value for the quality and taste of the food served. At the new lower price of $8.99 you are practically eating for free. There are fast food restaurants that you cannot eat at for this low a price.
Let me try to entice you with my meal and maybe you will say I have to go there. Now, I know that many of you are no where near the state of New Jersey, but maybe you know someone there or near there that you can call and say - Go right now to Buffet Europa! So, anyway, I started with the seafood bisque - chunks of fresh fish in a pink thin/thick cream broth. Just as I remembered it was very good. My wife had the chicken noodle soup which you might say is no big deal, but this one does not taste like buffet chicken noodle soup or diner chicken noodle soup. It tastes like fine restaurant chicken noodle soup. I know I am repeating myself from other articles about this buffet, but there is a point to be made here about the food. It is not buffet food. It is fine restaurant food.
I followed the soup with a plate of assorted cold vegetables from the salad bar. I am not a lettuce salad eater, but all of the fixings were there for one. I had a bit of Italian vegetable salad - pieces of carrot, cauliflower, red peppers, etc. in white vinegar. I also had some pickles and olives. Just a small bit to taste. I added a dinner roll - because they looked good.
Entrees on this evening were similar to the first night that I had been to this restaurant. There were Polish Perigees - a ravioli-like dumpling of pasta folded around mashed potato and skillet fried with onions. They are served with sour creme on the side. There were sweet cheese blintzes - folds of sweet, thin pancakes (crepes) folded flat around a sweetened cheese mixture and dusted with powdered sugar. There was something different this evening - fried potato pancakes - ground potatoes and onions formed into flat patties and deep fried - served with apple sauce on the side. There was also a different entree added to the selection - fried veal cutlets. This is something that I have not had since I was a child growing up in my Italian-American home.
Other entrees were as they had been - Polish kielbasa in sauerkraut, barbecue ribs, Swedish meatballs, small pieces of fried pollack, stuffed cabbage, Penne ala Vodka, chicken Francais, roasted and sauteed vegetables, mashed potatoes, and I am sure that I am forgetting some other things. All were as I remembered. All were wonderful. Long, long ago, I had a Polish girlfriend - and the kielbasa here reminded me of what her mother made. In addition to this all, there was a roast of beef to carve that was nicely crispy on the outside.
I had to stop eating entrees when I realized that I was getting too full to enjoy dessert. Oh the deserts! This night there was something that I have never seen in any buffet- and rarely is it found in restaurants. They had Sfogliatelle! I had at first been disappointed that I did not see Tiramisu out on the counter, but my wife pointed out to me that the sfogliatelle was there and something really unusual. So what is Sfogliatelle? It is a pastry of crispy layers of thin sweet dough in the shape of a seashell. The dough is such that it breaks apart as you eat it in thin strips - just hard enough to give it a crunch and the need to chew. Inside this seashell of layers of pastry dough is sweetened, baked ricotta cheese mixed with sugar and tiny pieces of candied dried fruits to give a hint of citrus to the taste. This is a pastry that I have, maybe once a year, with family at Christmas dinner. At an Italian bakery this is an expensive pastry - at a minimum $3.00 and often more a piece. Here at Buffet Europa there was a tray full out on the dessert counter, each covered in powdered sugar. The taste was spot on to what it should be! Whether they made them here or brought them in, I don't know, but if they brought them in, they paid quite a bit for them to just have them out as a buffet dessert! In addition, for those who want just the ordinary - but here the ordinary is extraordinary - there was sections of coffee cake, muffins, brownies with chocolate chunks inside, chocolate chip cookies, and cheesecake. Of course, I had to have a piece of the cheesecake! I was happy - Sfogliatelle and cheesecake at a buffet!
We left happy and full. There is not more that you can ask of any restaurant.
Have I enticed you? These people are trying hard to do that! They need your business. I don't know how else that I can say that this restaurant must continue because it sets a new and higher standard for buffets - family friendly and affordable buffets - with food that does not originate in some chain restaurant warehouse with directions to cook it exactly this way and serve so that it will be the same at any of the chain's locations.
I was delighted to see our Best Buffet Certificate professionally matted and framed on hung prominently on the wall to the right of the cashier's desk! It looked like they were proud to receive this award and they certainly went out of their way to display it! When you go in, mention it, and tell them that you heard about them right here!
So, go to Buffet Europa! If you are nearby, keep going back! I wish I could but I am more than 90 miles and $20 in tolls away. If I was nearby I would be a regular.
Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. Their telephone number is 732-940-1122. They do have a website and the link is listed at the side of this page. Please take note of their new hours listed above in this article.
I had an opportunity to be there again recently. I was very surprised to see that they are in need of customers and support. The restaurant is still wonderful. The food is still excellent. The atmosphere is unlike the chain buffets. The cuisine in European with a leaning toward Polish on Friday nights and a leaning toward Italian on Saturday nights. The owners - who as I have mentioned in my other articles, work the whole place themselves - are trying extremely hard to get customers in the door. They have lowered the weeknight buffet price - Tuesday to Thursday to $8.99! This is unbelievable. This is the FULL buffet from soup to salad to hot entrees and sides to wonderful desserts and it even includes the soft drinks. Why have they done this? It is obvious. They need to increase their business.
They have cut their weeknight - Tuesday to Thursday - hours to close at 7:00 pm. Friday and Saturday nights are still until 9:00 pm. They no longer are opened at all on Mondays. They had been closed for dinner on Mondays - now they are closed. They are still closed on Sundays, but do catering on Sundays in the restaurant. They have also added teen and adult dances on some Friday and Saturday nights after 10:00 pm.
We went in this time on a Friday night. When we entered there was just one other diner in the whole restaurant. We were warmly and personally welcomed by the owner and offered any table we wished. My heart sank a bit as I had hoped to find the place jumping. I have had readers contact me to say that they are going there and have been there - and each has has wonderful things to say about the restaurant. To find really no one in the restaurant at a little after 6:00 pm - dinner time - on a Friday night - I sigh when I think of it. I want so much for this restaurant to succeed because it is THAT GOOD and that different.
If this were a buffet that I had never been to before I might have hesitated to go in seeing no one inside. My concern always is if the food is out on the buffet server and no one is taking it, it may be sitting too long. I had no reluctance to go in and sit down here. I knew that with the personal attention that the food here gets it would be fresh and wonderful as always - AND IT WAS! Everything was moist, stirred, and hot.
As we dined other tables filled but there never really were more than three tables occupied the whole time we were there. This is not as it had been on previous visits - and my first visit had been at this same time of the year. Before while the small restaurant was never full, there were a number of tables occupied.
The price on Friday and Saturday nights for the buffet is $15.99. This includes unlimited soft drinks that you take yourself. This is the price that all nights had once been. At this price you are getting excellent value for the quality and taste of the food served. At the new lower price of $8.99 you are practically eating for free. There are fast food restaurants that you cannot eat at for this low a price.
Let me try to entice you with my meal and maybe you will say I have to go there. Now, I know that many of you are no where near the state of New Jersey, but maybe you know someone there or near there that you can call and say - Go right now to Buffet Europa! So, anyway, I started with the seafood bisque - chunks of fresh fish in a pink thin/thick cream broth. Just as I remembered it was very good. My wife had the chicken noodle soup which you might say is no big deal, but this one does not taste like buffet chicken noodle soup or diner chicken noodle soup. It tastes like fine restaurant chicken noodle soup. I know I am repeating myself from other articles about this buffet, but there is a point to be made here about the food. It is not buffet food. It is fine restaurant food.
I followed the soup with a plate of assorted cold vegetables from the salad bar. I am not a lettuce salad eater, but all of the fixings were there for one. I had a bit of Italian vegetable salad - pieces of carrot, cauliflower, red peppers, etc. in white vinegar. I also had some pickles and olives. Just a small bit to taste. I added a dinner roll - because they looked good.
Entrees on this evening were similar to the first night that I had been to this restaurant. There were Polish Perigees - a ravioli-like dumpling of pasta folded around mashed potato and skillet fried with onions. They are served with sour creme on the side. There were sweet cheese blintzes - folds of sweet, thin pancakes (crepes) folded flat around a sweetened cheese mixture and dusted with powdered sugar. There was something different this evening - fried potato pancakes - ground potatoes and onions formed into flat patties and deep fried - served with apple sauce on the side. There was also a different entree added to the selection - fried veal cutlets. This is something that I have not had since I was a child growing up in my Italian-American home.
Other entrees were as they had been - Polish kielbasa in sauerkraut, barbecue ribs, Swedish meatballs, small pieces of fried pollack, stuffed cabbage, Penne ala Vodka, chicken Francais, roasted and sauteed vegetables, mashed potatoes, and I am sure that I am forgetting some other things. All were as I remembered. All were wonderful. Long, long ago, I had a Polish girlfriend - and the kielbasa here reminded me of what her mother made. In addition to this all, there was a roast of beef to carve that was nicely crispy on the outside.
I had to stop eating entrees when I realized that I was getting too full to enjoy dessert. Oh the deserts! This night there was something that I have never seen in any buffet- and rarely is it found in restaurants. They had Sfogliatelle! I had at first been disappointed that I did not see Tiramisu out on the counter, but my wife pointed out to me that the sfogliatelle was there and something really unusual. So what is Sfogliatelle? It is a pastry of crispy layers of thin sweet dough in the shape of a seashell. The dough is such that it breaks apart as you eat it in thin strips - just hard enough to give it a crunch and the need to chew. Inside this seashell of layers of pastry dough is sweetened, baked ricotta cheese mixed with sugar and tiny pieces of candied dried fruits to give a hint of citrus to the taste. This is a pastry that I have, maybe once a year, with family at Christmas dinner. At an Italian bakery this is an expensive pastry - at a minimum $3.00 and often more a piece. Here at Buffet Europa there was a tray full out on the dessert counter, each covered in powdered sugar. The taste was spot on to what it should be! Whether they made them here or brought them in, I don't know, but if they brought them in, they paid quite a bit for them to just have them out as a buffet dessert! In addition, for those who want just the ordinary - but here the ordinary is extraordinary - there was sections of coffee cake, muffins, brownies with chocolate chunks inside, chocolate chip cookies, and cheesecake. Of course, I had to have a piece of the cheesecake! I was happy - Sfogliatelle and cheesecake at a buffet!
We left happy and full. There is not more that you can ask of any restaurant.
Have I enticed you? These people are trying hard to do that! They need your business. I don't know how else that I can say that this restaurant must continue because it sets a new and higher standard for buffets - family friendly and affordable buffets - with food that does not originate in some chain restaurant warehouse with directions to cook it exactly this way and serve so that it will be the same at any of the chain's locations.
I was delighted to see our Best Buffet Certificate professionally matted and framed on hung prominently on the wall to the right of the cashier's desk! It looked like they were proud to receive this award and they certainly went out of their way to display it! When you go in, mention it, and tell them that you heard about them right here!
So, go to Buffet Europa! If you are nearby, keep going back! I wish I could but I am more than 90 miles and $20 in tolls away. If I was nearby I would be a regular.
Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. Their telephone number is 732-940-1122. They do have a website and the link is listed at the side of this page. Please take note of their new hours listed above in this article.
Friday, March 12, 2010
At Shady Maple for the Celebration!
Two weeks ago I wrote about Shady Maple Smorgasbord in Pennsylvania announcing festivities in celebration of their 25 years in business. The celebrations end tomorrow, March 13, 2010. I had the great pleasure to be there this past Wednesday night.
I made the trip to Pennsylvania - four hours drive each way - over 300 miles in all with about $30 in tolls and a full tank of gas just to go to dinner at Shady Maple for its 25th Anniversary celebration. It was a one day trip - there and back in the same day.
We arrived in Lancaster County early afternoon and went to see some of our usual haunts before heading to East Earl for dinner at about 6:30. Before we went to the restauant we stopped at the Shady Maple supermarket - no not to eat, but to see if they had some things that we don't find at home. The supermarket has just had a new addition built on to one side which has just opened. It includes a new entrance to the market as well as a very large cafeteria-style restaurant. There had been a smaller version of this restaurant in the market before. We were there on moving day - the construction is that new. They were moving from the smaller cafeteria into the new larger one. On the wall we could see a menu board and in front of the cafeteria counter we could see a buffet server. They will be offering a soup and salad bar. My wife made the comment that they could wind up taking business away from themselves at the Smorgasbord. I don't think so, but for a quick place for lunch and an all you care to eat light meal, this looked good. Well, we found what we were looking for inside the market, including a surprise in the bakery department - a funny cake - a pie/cake that is particular to one area in Pennsylvania much further north to where Shady Maple is. But it was a very welcome surprise because I love this pie/cake. I call it a pie/cake because I am not sure how else to describe it. Funny cake is a cake batter swirled with chocolate and baked in a pie shell. It is incredibly good. Of course, we bought one and I wondered if it will ever appear for dessert at the Smorgasbord.
We headed over to the restaurant and got in just after 6:30. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot. Many more than one would expect to find on a Wednesday night in early March - too soon for the tourist trade and a mid-week night during a work week. I expected a line when we got inside the lobby but there was one of the several registers clear - the others had people at them paying and we walked right in. Now, in the announcement for the anniversary they talked about hourly drawings and that each paid meal would be given one entry blank to enter the contest. The entry blanks were just out in the lobby on a table next to the box they were to be put in. Anyone could have put as many entries as they wished into the box - but you did have to be present at the hours of the drawing if your entry was picked. All of the entries will be placed into a grand prize drawing with many prizes on Saturday night - March 13th. It is not necessary to be present to win one of those prizes. Behind the cash registers against the divider wall that separates the booths from the lobby was a long table full of prizes for the hourly drawings. There were regular and hooded sweatshirts with Shady Maple on the front. There were stuffed animals, toys and an assortment of Coors Beer glasses and the like. I hoped for one of the sweatshirts. We were there for both the 7 and the 8 o'clock drawings - we did not win. That is ok - it was not the prizes that I had come for.
The restaurant was crowded. There were open tables and booths and we were seated right away. There were balloons all around. In the lobby there was a large mylar blow up 25 on a wall. The number of people inside were there for the celebration.
In the middle of the dining room was a chocolate fountain bar set up. Two chocolate fountains were flowing with hot liquid chocolate - one dark chocolate and one milk. There was fruit - pineapple and strawberries - to dip. There were marshmallows, oreos, pretzel sticks, and ... cannoli's to dip into the chocolate. There was also a freezer ice cream case with a number of flavors of Turkey Hill ice cream - a locally made and well known brand that is probably sold at your own supermarket. Next to the ice cream was a hot tray with waffles for the ice cream. But I have gotten way ahead to dessert - let's back way up to the rest of this wonderful anniversary celebration meal.
There were certain feature foods that were announced that would be available each night of the celebration in addition to that nights usual features. Since I was there on Wednesday night the regular feature is prime rib and that was there. Also served from the grills were anniversary Smorgie Cheese-steaks, anniversary Delmonico steaks, anniversary carved honey ham, and more.
There were four different soups being served - two different soups were there - one that I have seen rarely at Shady Maple and another I had not seen before anywhere. The unusual one was stuffed pepper soup and it looked like it was just that, a tomato soup with all of the ingredients of stuffed peppers in it. I decided on the other - Maryland Red Crab Soup. This was wonderful! It was a thick tomato based vegetable soup with shredded crab. What made it so thick was the quantity of crab that was stuffed into this soup. This was real crab - not the sea legs that are often labeled crab or put into crab dishes. The soup was spiced with Maryland crab seasoning which gives a mildly hot spice taste. The spice was not overpowering but just right. I very much enjoyed my cup of soup.
After a small selection of prepared salads from the salad bar - small only because we were leaving lots of room for the meal and not for salad - I headed right for the Smorgie Cheese-steaks. Mounds of steaks cooked and were being chopped on the grill. Large strips of yellow cheese were being sliced and laid on top. Chopped onions were mixed in as well. As the cheese melted, it was chopped into the meat to result in a blend of goodness. The chef was also the server and when asked for a cheese-steak he would scoop a mound of the meat and cheese onto a long deli roll. The sandwich filled my plate. I looked down and wondered if I should add more to that plate or wait. Heck, this was a night I was not wanting to wait for anything. So I went down the buffet servers - both sides to see what treats I would find.
A local dish of this area is one that a number of readers have written me about and asked me what buffet to find it at. This is one of them but it is not a dish that is always served at Shady Maple. I am talking about Chicken Bot Bie- pronounced like chicken pot pie, but very different. Chicken Bot Bie is a thin chicken stew full of shreds of chicken, carrots, potatoes, celery, and large, flat, thick dumpling noodles. It is an Amish dish and it is very, very good. There on the buffet server was Chicken Bot Bie. I had to take a small amount - what would fit next to my large cheese-steak. I was careful not to take the liquid so that I would not soak the bread of my sandwich. On the way back to the table I passed Dried Corn on the server, another local Amish dish (found most nights at Shady Maple) which is dried corn kernals that is soaked and cooked with a bit of brown sugar - it is sweet and nutty in taste. Why not - I took some of that too - on the other side of the plate. So I returned to my table with my Smorgie Cheese-steak down the middle of the plate and Chicken Bot Bie on one side and Dried Corn on the other. As I looked down at my plate I realized that there was no way that I could eat all the bread on this sandwich and then go back and have any of the other things that I so much wanted to have this night. I did something that I might otherwise say is a buffet no-no, but there had really been no way to ask for the sandwich with just half a roll. I took the top half of the roll off and set it aside. Now, I was facing something that I could enjoy and still leave room for more of something else. The cheese-steak, as always at Shady Maple, was great. The Chicken Bot Bie was equally good as was the Dried Corn.
When that plate was finished I went back to see what would be next. I like Shady Maple's steaks and my next choice was the grilled Delmonico steaks. The only thing that could make these steaks better would be a flame grill. They are grilled on a flat grill. The chef at the grill keeps an assortment of steaks at different doneness ready. Order you steak the way you like it - and if you want it way he does not have ready he will put one on or cook one longer for you. There are sauteed mushrooms and sauteed onions to add on top. I took my just off the grill. I added some buttered noodles to the plate and went back to the table to enjoy.
There was so much out to choose from. From Prime Rib to pizza. At two grills they were slicing prime rib by knife off the rib round. There was a paper sign over the counter that said that the prime rib would be sliced thin - meaning about a half inch thick, because it tastes better that way. You were invited to come back for another slice or more, but not to ask for a thicker slice, because you will enjoy it more this way. Interesting. I did not take the prime rib - if I had two stomachs I would have. What was good was that each server had two prime ribs to slice from - one well done and one that was pink/red inside.
I wish that I could eat as much as I had when I was younger. I mostly eat in samples at a buffet so that I can try a little of everything - and that can add up. This night I decided that I was going to go for more Chicken Bot-Bie as it is something that I do not get often and it is something that I have really liked for a long time. I put a quantity on my plate and then walking past the fried chicken I could not resist taking a small piece. They make good fried chicken by a special process that I will write a future article about. There were a lot of other good things that I did not try because there just was not enough room for me to eat that much more. I did not take the sweet and sour meatballs - good when I have had them here before, fried cod, broiled talapia, pulled pork, pork and kraut, sliced turkey, ham, the special honey carved ham, roast pork, carved beef brisket, special roast beef, and on and on.
Now, there was something that had been out earlier but was replaced with something else, that I was sorry that I missed. I knew it had been there because the sign was still on the server over where the tray had been. It was another local Amish dish called Snitz and Knepp. Snitz are dried apple slices. Knepp are dumplings. This is a dish made with both stewed together. It is slightly sweet and tart from the apples and the small doughy dumplings are mixed together with the apples that plump back up from stewing. This is rarely found at the buffets. When it is there it is a must try. Yes, I would have made room for some of that. But I was more than satisfied and happy, none the less.
Dessert. Did I go right then to the chocolate fountains? Actually, no. I am not a big fan of hot liquid chocolate to dip things into. It is fine but I went to see what was there on the dessert bar. I decided on two Amish desserts. A slice of shoo fly pie with whipped cream - molasses on top of the pie shell with cake crumbs baked on top. Sweet and rich. Not something I have on a regular basis but something that I have enjoyed in this region for many years. The second dessert I shared with my wife - and really at this point was just for a taste. There were whoopie pies sliced in half. A whoopie pie is two small rounds of chocolate cake with cream sandwiched in-between. These are fun to eat and taste real good. I split the half with my wife - I really could not have eaten the whole half as much as I would have liked to.
I have to take a moment and tell you about the people at the table next to us. They were two older couples. When we first arrived they were just starting on dessert. The two men talked about their dissatisfaction with politics and the two ladies talked about friends and realatives who were either sick or dying - or both. I know what the conversations were because they were loud enough to join in with - I didn't. But the conversation was fine and they were really not disturbing us at all. But I saw something that I have not seen before at a buffet. After dessert they sat and talked - again fine. I heard one of the men say that they were waiting for the next hourly drawing - at 8. Fine still. The drawing came and went and they continued to stay and talk. Still fine. One said that they had been their so long they could eat again. Hmmm. Just a joke. But a while later one of the men got up and went toward the buffet servers. He came back with a plate full of salad. Not just a bit but a heaping plate full. He sat there and ate it all as they continued to talk. I have never seen that before. After a meal as complete and filling as what was there, how he could put down another full plate of salad, I am not really sure - and he was not a large man. Slim, in fact.
I ought to mention the table on the other side of us. A family with three little girls that must have been triplets. My wife commented to me that they looked like clones - each an exact match of the other. Cute. They were also covered in liquid chocolate! They knew what was good!
So there you have it. Twenty five years of Shady Maple celebrated for a full week. Great food and lot's of fun! I have written this article so that I may post it while there is still time - if but one day for anyone near enough to get to Shady Maple to go and enjoy this celebration. Saturday night at 8 will be the grand drawings. You just read how good the food is. And if you can't make it now, then go whenever you can because you will find the best variety of buffet you will find anywhere. That is why this buffet is our BEST AWARD winner for years in a row. When you go take a look on the column nearest the cash register on the end where the bakery table is. You will see our Award Certificate proudly displayed there!
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
I made the trip to Pennsylvania - four hours drive each way - over 300 miles in all with about $30 in tolls and a full tank of gas just to go to dinner at Shady Maple for its 25th Anniversary celebration. It was a one day trip - there and back in the same day.
We arrived in Lancaster County early afternoon and went to see some of our usual haunts before heading to East Earl for dinner at about 6:30. Before we went to the restauant we stopped at the Shady Maple supermarket - no not to eat, but to see if they had some things that we don't find at home. The supermarket has just had a new addition built on to one side which has just opened. It includes a new entrance to the market as well as a very large cafeteria-style restaurant. There had been a smaller version of this restaurant in the market before. We were there on moving day - the construction is that new. They were moving from the smaller cafeteria into the new larger one. On the wall we could see a menu board and in front of the cafeteria counter we could see a buffet server. They will be offering a soup and salad bar. My wife made the comment that they could wind up taking business away from themselves at the Smorgasbord. I don't think so, but for a quick place for lunch and an all you care to eat light meal, this looked good. Well, we found what we were looking for inside the market, including a surprise in the bakery department - a funny cake - a pie/cake that is particular to one area in Pennsylvania much further north to where Shady Maple is. But it was a very welcome surprise because I love this pie/cake. I call it a pie/cake because I am not sure how else to describe it. Funny cake is a cake batter swirled with chocolate and baked in a pie shell. It is incredibly good. Of course, we bought one and I wondered if it will ever appear for dessert at the Smorgasbord.
We headed over to the restaurant and got in just after 6:30. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot. Many more than one would expect to find on a Wednesday night in early March - too soon for the tourist trade and a mid-week night during a work week. I expected a line when we got inside the lobby but there was one of the several registers clear - the others had people at them paying and we walked right in. Now, in the announcement for the anniversary they talked about hourly drawings and that each paid meal would be given one entry blank to enter the contest. The entry blanks were just out in the lobby on a table next to the box they were to be put in. Anyone could have put as many entries as they wished into the box - but you did have to be present at the hours of the drawing if your entry was picked. All of the entries will be placed into a grand prize drawing with many prizes on Saturday night - March 13th. It is not necessary to be present to win one of those prizes. Behind the cash registers against the divider wall that separates the booths from the lobby was a long table full of prizes for the hourly drawings. There were regular and hooded sweatshirts with Shady Maple on the front. There were stuffed animals, toys and an assortment of Coors Beer glasses and the like. I hoped for one of the sweatshirts. We were there for both the 7 and the 8 o'clock drawings - we did not win. That is ok - it was not the prizes that I had come for.
The restaurant was crowded. There were open tables and booths and we were seated right away. There were balloons all around. In the lobby there was a large mylar blow up 25 on a wall. The number of people inside were there for the celebration.
In the middle of the dining room was a chocolate fountain bar set up. Two chocolate fountains were flowing with hot liquid chocolate - one dark chocolate and one milk. There was fruit - pineapple and strawberries - to dip. There were marshmallows, oreos, pretzel sticks, and ... cannoli's to dip into the chocolate. There was also a freezer ice cream case with a number of flavors of Turkey Hill ice cream - a locally made and well known brand that is probably sold at your own supermarket. Next to the ice cream was a hot tray with waffles for the ice cream. But I have gotten way ahead to dessert - let's back way up to the rest of this wonderful anniversary celebration meal.
There were certain feature foods that were announced that would be available each night of the celebration in addition to that nights usual features. Since I was there on Wednesday night the regular feature is prime rib and that was there. Also served from the grills were anniversary Smorgie Cheese-steaks, anniversary Delmonico steaks, anniversary carved honey ham, and more.
There were four different soups being served - two different soups were there - one that I have seen rarely at Shady Maple and another I had not seen before anywhere. The unusual one was stuffed pepper soup and it looked like it was just that, a tomato soup with all of the ingredients of stuffed peppers in it. I decided on the other - Maryland Red Crab Soup. This was wonderful! It was a thick tomato based vegetable soup with shredded crab. What made it so thick was the quantity of crab that was stuffed into this soup. This was real crab - not the sea legs that are often labeled crab or put into crab dishes. The soup was spiced with Maryland crab seasoning which gives a mildly hot spice taste. The spice was not overpowering but just right. I very much enjoyed my cup of soup.
After a small selection of prepared salads from the salad bar - small only because we were leaving lots of room for the meal and not for salad - I headed right for the Smorgie Cheese-steaks. Mounds of steaks cooked and were being chopped on the grill. Large strips of yellow cheese were being sliced and laid on top. Chopped onions were mixed in as well. As the cheese melted, it was chopped into the meat to result in a blend of goodness. The chef was also the server and when asked for a cheese-steak he would scoop a mound of the meat and cheese onto a long deli roll. The sandwich filled my plate. I looked down and wondered if I should add more to that plate or wait. Heck, this was a night I was not wanting to wait for anything. So I went down the buffet servers - both sides to see what treats I would find.
A local dish of this area is one that a number of readers have written me about and asked me what buffet to find it at. This is one of them but it is not a dish that is always served at Shady Maple. I am talking about Chicken Bot Bie- pronounced like chicken pot pie, but very different. Chicken Bot Bie is a thin chicken stew full of shreds of chicken, carrots, potatoes, celery, and large, flat, thick dumpling noodles. It is an Amish dish and it is very, very good. There on the buffet server was Chicken Bot Bie. I had to take a small amount - what would fit next to my large cheese-steak. I was careful not to take the liquid so that I would not soak the bread of my sandwich. On the way back to the table I passed Dried Corn on the server, another local Amish dish (found most nights at Shady Maple) which is dried corn kernals that is soaked and cooked with a bit of brown sugar - it is sweet and nutty in taste. Why not - I took some of that too - on the other side of the plate. So I returned to my table with my Smorgie Cheese-steak down the middle of the plate and Chicken Bot Bie on one side and Dried Corn on the other. As I looked down at my plate I realized that there was no way that I could eat all the bread on this sandwich and then go back and have any of the other things that I so much wanted to have this night. I did something that I might otherwise say is a buffet no-no, but there had really been no way to ask for the sandwich with just half a roll. I took the top half of the roll off and set it aside. Now, I was facing something that I could enjoy and still leave room for more of something else. The cheese-steak, as always at Shady Maple, was great. The Chicken Bot Bie was equally good as was the Dried Corn.
When that plate was finished I went back to see what would be next. I like Shady Maple's steaks and my next choice was the grilled Delmonico steaks. The only thing that could make these steaks better would be a flame grill. They are grilled on a flat grill. The chef at the grill keeps an assortment of steaks at different doneness ready. Order you steak the way you like it - and if you want it way he does not have ready he will put one on or cook one longer for you. There are sauteed mushrooms and sauteed onions to add on top. I took my just off the grill. I added some buttered noodles to the plate and went back to the table to enjoy.
There was so much out to choose from. From Prime Rib to pizza. At two grills they were slicing prime rib by knife off the rib round. There was a paper sign over the counter that said that the prime rib would be sliced thin - meaning about a half inch thick, because it tastes better that way. You were invited to come back for another slice or more, but not to ask for a thicker slice, because you will enjoy it more this way. Interesting. I did not take the prime rib - if I had two stomachs I would have. What was good was that each server had two prime ribs to slice from - one well done and one that was pink/red inside.
I wish that I could eat as much as I had when I was younger. I mostly eat in samples at a buffet so that I can try a little of everything - and that can add up. This night I decided that I was going to go for more Chicken Bot-Bie as it is something that I do not get often and it is something that I have really liked for a long time. I put a quantity on my plate and then walking past the fried chicken I could not resist taking a small piece. They make good fried chicken by a special process that I will write a future article about. There were a lot of other good things that I did not try because there just was not enough room for me to eat that much more. I did not take the sweet and sour meatballs - good when I have had them here before, fried cod, broiled talapia, pulled pork, pork and kraut, sliced turkey, ham, the special honey carved ham, roast pork, carved beef brisket, special roast beef, and on and on.
Now, there was something that had been out earlier but was replaced with something else, that I was sorry that I missed. I knew it had been there because the sign was still on the server over where the tray had been. It was another local Amish dish called Snitz and Knepp. Snitz are dried apple slices. Knepp are dumplings. This is a dish made with both stewed together. It is slightly sweet and tart from the apples and the small doughy dumplings are mixed together with the apples that plump back up from stewing. This is rarely found at the buffets. When it is there it is a must try. Yes, I would have made room for some of that. But I was more than satisfied and happy, none the less.
Dessert. Did I go right then to the chocolate fountains? Actually, no. I am not a big fan of hot liquid chocolate to dip things into. It is fine but I went to see what was there on the dessert bar. I decided on two Amish desserts. A slice of shoo fly pie with whipped cream - molasses on top of the pie shell with cake crumbs baked on top. Sweet and rich. Not something I have on a regular basis but something that I have enjoyed in this region for many years. The second dessert I shared with my wife - and really at this point was just for a taste. There were whoopie pies sliced in half. A whoopie pie is two small rounds of chocolate cake with cream sandwiched in-between. These are fun to eat and taste real good. I split the half with my wife - I really could not have eaten the whole half as much as I would have liked to.
I have to take a moment and tell you about the people at the table next to us. They were two older couples. When we first arrived they were just starting on dessert. The two men talked about their dissatisfaction with politics and the two ladies talked about friends and realatives who were either sick or dying - or both. I know what the conversations were because they were loud enough to join in with - I didn't. But the conversation was fine and they were really not disturbing us at all. But I saw something that I have not seen before at a buffet. After dessert they sat and talked - again fine. I heard one of the men say that they were waiting for the next hourly drawing - at 8. Fine still. The drawing came and went and they continued to stay and talk. Still fine. One said that they had been their so long they could eat again. Hmmm. Just a joke. But a while later one of the men got up and went toward the buffet servers. He came back with a plate full of salad. Not just a bit but a heaping plate full. He sat there and ate it all as they continued to talk. I have never seen that before. After a meal as complete and filling as what was there, how he could put down another full plate of salad, I am not really sure - and he was not a large man. Slim, in fact.
I ought to mention the table on the other side of us. A family with three little girls that must have been triplets. My wife commented to me that they looked like clones - each an exact match of the other. Cute. They were also covered in liquid chocolate! They knew what was good!
So there you have it. Twenty five years of Shady Maple celebrated for a full week. Great food and lot's of fun! I have written this article so that I may post it while there is still time - if but one day for anyone near enough to get to Shady Maple to go and enjoy this celebration. Saturday night at 8 will be the grand drawings. You just read how good the food is. And if you can't make it now, then go whenever you can because you will find the best variety of buffet you will find anywhere. That is why this buffet is our BEST AWARD winner for years in a row. When you go take a look on the column nearest the cash register on the end where the bakery table is. You will see our Award Certificate proudly displayed there!
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
Friday, March 05, 2010
Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet
Several years back I found a restaurant in the Shenandoah Mountain/Blue Ridge Mountains called Mrs. Rowe's. I had been searching for places to eat on a trip that was taking through the Shenandoah heading south and came upon a book that talked all about Road Food - places to stop when you are "on the road". There was a site from the two authors that highlighted some of their favorites and there was described Mrs. Rowe's. I knew right away that this was a must visit on this trip. This was not a buffet restaurant - I knew that up front. It was described as having some of the best Southern country cooking and the must have was the pan fried chicken. We stopped there and this chicken was everything that was said about it and I still feel that it was the best fried chicken that I had ever had. A few years later we were passing through the city of Staunton, Virginia (pronounced by the locals as STAN Ton) again, and again, I went back to Mrs. Rowe's and it was still as I remembered it.
A few months ago I was poking around for buffets and I could not believe what I came across - Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet! The original restaurant is still where it always was, but the buffet is in the town of Mt. Crawford, Virginia. I have not been to the buffet, but I know Mrs. Rowe's cooking and the food has got to be as good as it is at the original restaurant.
Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet serves lunch seven days a week with Sunday serving dinner all day and they serve dinner from Tuesdays to Sundays. Note that they are closed for diner on Mondays. On many days of the week the dinner menu and the lunch menu are similar with some additions at dinner. Lunch is served from 11 am to 3 pm and dinner starts at 3 until 8:00 pm. They are open for many holidays.
The cooking is Southern country with many dishes that some from other parts of the country will not have heard of. Fried chicken and spoon bread is served on the buffet every day. Spoon bread - a southern comfort food - is like a corn bread pudding. It is baked in a crock (or pan) until the mixture is moist and the consistency of a thick, semi-solid pudding that is spooned out onto your plate and you eat it with a fork. It is difficult to describe because there really is nothing like it that I can compare it to. It is sweet and smooth when you eat it - and it is best eaten while it is hot or at least warm. Some days on the buffet there are baked apples. Other days there is fried cabbage. Of course, macaroni and cheese is a staple each day at lunch and dinner. On Wednesday's there are chicken livers (don't let that keep you away - there are other things too). Fridays and Saturdays the menu focuses on seafood at dinner and items such as shrimp scampi, steamed shrimp, salmon cakes, blue crabs, clam strips, fried oysters, and catfish may be found. Sunday - as I said dinner is served all day - has added a steamship round of beef. On Friday and Saturday dinner crab legs are available which means there is an added charge for crab legs and I am sure they are not all you care to eat.
For dessert you will find homemade pies. The baking at Mrs. Rowe's was exceptional when I had it.
This is an area full of natural wonders - caverns, beautiful mountain drives and the Skyline Drive (a parkway that takes you across the top of the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Mountains with spots to stop and park where bears will come right up to your car - no, not zoo bears, but wild bears so do not get out of your car and never feed them - unless you want them to try to come into your car with you or climb up on the hood or the roof). There is much to see and do here and it is a direct run south along the border between Virginia and West Virginia. Mrs. Rowe's may not be a natural wonder but it is a wonder to enjoy. I am definitely planning a trip to be sure to try Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet. When I do I will tell you all first hand about it. If anyone has been there, please do comment.
Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet is located at 6187 South Valley Pike, Mount Crawford, Virginia. Their phone number is (540) 433-0993. There is a website and that site is linked at the side of this page.
A few months ago I was poking around for buffets and I could not believe what I came across - Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet! The original restaurant is still where it always was, but the buffet is in the town of Mt. Crawford, Virginia. I have not been to the buffet, but I know Mrs. Rowe's cooking and the food has got to be as good as it is at the original restaurant.
Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet serves lunch seven days a week with Sunday serving dinner all day and they serve dinner from Tuesdays to Sundays. Note that they are closed for diner on Mondays. On many days of the week the dinner menu and the lunch menu are similar with some additions at dinner. Lunch is served from 11 am to 3 pm and dinner starts at 3 until 8:00 pm. They are open for many holidays.
The cooking is Southern country with many dishes that some from other parts of the country will not have heard of. Fried chicken and spoon bread is served on the buffet every day. Spoon bread - a southern comfort food - is like a corn bread pudding. It is baked in a crock (or pan) until the mixture is moist and the consistency of a thick, semi-solid pudding that is spooned out onto your plate and you eat it with a fork. It is difficult to describe because there really is nothing like it that I can compare it to. It is sweet and smooth when you eat it - and it is best eaten while it is hot or at least warm. Some days on the buffet there are baked apples. Other days there is fried cabbage. Of course, macaroni and cheese is a staple each day at lunch and dinner. On Wednesday's there are chicken livers (don't let that keep you away - there are other things too). Fridays and Saturdays the menu focuses on seafood at dinner and items such as shrimp scampi, steamed shrimp, salmon cakes, blue crabs, clam strips, fried oysters, and catfish may be found. Sunday - as I said dinner is served all day - has added a steamship round of beef. On Friday and Saturday dinner crab legs are available which means there is an added charge for crab legs and I am sure they are not all you care to eat.
For dessert you will find homemade pies. The baking at Mrs. Rowe's was exceptional when I had it.
This is an area full of natural wonders - caverns, beautiful mountain drives and the Skyline Drive (a parkway that takes you across the top of the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Mountains with spots to stop and park where bears will come right up to your car - no, not zoo bears, but wild bears so do not get out of your car and never feed them - unless you want them to try to come into your car with you or climb up on the hood or the roof). There is much to see and do here and it is a direct run south along the border between Virginia and West Virginia. Mrs. Rowe's may not be a natural wonder but it is a wonder to enjoy. I am definitely planning a trip to be sure to try Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet. When I do I will tell you all first hand about it. If anyone has been there, please do comment.
Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet is located at 6187 South Valley Pike, Mount Crawford, Virginia. Their phone number is (540) 433-0993. There is a website and that site is linked at the side of this page.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Shady Maple Celebrates 25 Years!
Shady Maple Smorgasbord - our pick for best buffet - ANY WHERE - three years in a row is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year with a special two week long feature menu starting March 1, 2010 and ending March 13th.
Shady Maple, of course, is always good but things are going to be turned up a notch (as some famous tv food guy likes to say) for their Silver Anniversary Celebration in the next two weeks. I was actually surprised when I saw that Shady Maple has only be around for 25 years with the opening of their original smorgasbord restaurant in 1985. I guess I knew this but it seems to me that I have been going to Shady Maple much longer than that. I still remember that original building with fondness - miss it, sometimes too. The building is still there in the front where the supermarket is - across the other side of the parking lot in the building that now is a furniture store. There are lines at Shady Maple now to get in, but back then there was one very long line that circled around the old lobby entrance room several times and then headed out the door. At some point a covered addition was added to the building to extend the line under cover and protection from the weather, but there were nights when the line filled that too and still headed out the end and outside. In 2000 the new, huge smorgasbord building was opened at the back of the property.
It is time for nostalgia but it is also time for some good eating. There will be some specials on the smorgasbord for lunch and dinner. Carved honey ham and smorgie cheesesteaks will be added every day at lunch and dinner. Monday to Thursday lunch goers will find fruit smoothies. At lunch and dinner on those days there will be waffles and ice cream covered in whipped cream! At dinner Monday to Thursday there will be TWO chocolate fountains - milk and dark chocolate - to dip all sorts of treats into. Every night at dinner there will be Shady Maple's famous delmonico steaks on the grill.
The celebration is not just food. There will be hourly drawings for prizes too. Each smorgasbord meal purchased gets you an entry form to the drawings. You must be 18 to enter and you must be present to win the hourly drawings. Prizes are items from the gift shop. There will also be a grand prize drawing on March 13th at 8 pm and all entries will be included in the grand prize drawing with many chances to win a bunch of great prizes from a group dinner for up to 25 people at the smorgasbord to gift cards. You don't have to be present to win one of the many grand prizes - but of course, you have to have purchased a meal during the two celebration weeks and submitted your entry form.
If you have been thinking about trying Shady Maple, this is the time to go. Remember it is just the next two weeks! Keep an eye on the Specails page of their website as they have something special just about every weekend during the winter/early Spring months.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
Shady Maple, of course, is always good but things are going to be turned up a notch (as some famous tv food guy likes to say) for their Silver Anniversary Celebration in the next two weeks. I was actually surprised when I saw that Shady Maple has only be around for 25 years with the opening of their original smorgasbord restaurant in 1985. I guess I knew this but it seems to me that I have been going to Shady Maple much longer than that. I still remember that original building with fondness - miss it, sometimes too. The building is still there in the front where the supermarket is - across the other side of the parking lot in the building that now is a furniture store. There are lines at Shady Maple now to get in, but back then there was one very long line that circled around the old lobby entrance room several times and then headed out the door. At some point a covered addition was added to the building to extend the line under cover and protection from the weather, but there were nights when the line filled that too and still headed out the end and outside. In 2000 the new, huge smorgasbord building was opened at the back of the property.
It is time for nostalgia but it is also time for some good eating. There will be some specials on the smorgasbord for lunch and dinner. Carved honey ham and smorgie cheesesteaks will be added every day at lunch and dinner. Monday to Thursday lunch goers will find fruit smoothies. At lunch and dinner on those days there will be waffles and ice cream covered in whipped cream! At dinner Monday to Thursday there will be TWO chocolate fountains - milk and dark chocolate - to dip all sorts of treats into. Every night at dinner there will be Shady Maple's famous delmonico steaks on the grill.
The celebration is not just food. There will be hourly drawings for prizes too. Each smorgasbord meal purchased gets you an entry form to the drawings. You must be 18 to enter and you must be present to win the hourly drawings. Prizes are items from the gift shop. There will also be a grand prize drawing on March 13th at 8 pm and all entries will be included in the grand prize drawing with many chances to win a bunch of great prizes from a group dinner for up to 25 people at the smorgasbord to gift cards. You don't have to be present to win one of the many grand prizes - but of course, you have to have purchased a meal during the two celebration weeks and submitted your entry form.
If you have been thinking about trying Shady Maple, this is the time to go. Remember it is just the next two weeks! Keep an eye on the Specails page of their website as they have something special just about every weekend during the winter/early Spring months.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Breakfast Buffets
Regular readers will know that I do not write about breakfast buffets. Just about every buffet chain and many independent buffets offer a breakfast buffet - some daily and some just on the weekends. In addition, it seems like every hotel/motel around the world has a free breakfast buffet every morning for their guests. Breakfast buffets are everywhere. So how come I don't write about them. Simple answer I don't eat breakfast.
We are night people. If there are three meals in my day they start at lunch and end with a breakfast like "snack" late at night (or perhaps I should say very early in the morning). I have stayed in many, many hotels over the years since the first hotel had the idea of giving a breakfast buffet free each morning. I have never been to one - they are generally closed up and put away by the time we are out of the room in the morning and on our way for the day. (An aside - my opinion about hotel "free" breakfasts - lower the price for the room $10 and forget the so called "free" breakfast.)
Now I cannot say that I have never been to a breakfast buffet. I have had a number of restaurant buffet breakfasts in years past, but it has been so far back that it would not be fair to write about the breakfast buffets in those restaurants as I have no idea if they are still the same as when I was there. But I do know about breakfast buffets and what is offered. And some of them sound pretty good.
The ever-popular Shady Maple Smorgasbord serves a breakfast buffet every morning when they are open starting at 5 am(Five a.m.!) until 10 am. Old Country Buffet has a Saturday and Sunday morning buffet ending at 10:30 am. As I say, there are many breakfast buffets to be found.
One of my favorite breakfast buffets is long gone. It was at a truck stop in Lancaster County, PA. What made it my favorite - and why I went there - was that the breakfast buffet started at Midnight. This had been a regular Friday night thing when we were in that area. We would have a very light dinner - a sandwich perhaps - and then at Midnight we would head on over to this restaurant/truck stop for a breakfast buffet dinner. Now, a thing to know about breakfast buffets is that if you are going to eat what will tempt you, they are a heart attack waiting to happen. Close your eyes and think about a large buffet server tray of crisp, hot bacon. Now, move along the server to see another tray full of breakfast sausages - not those little frozen ones that they sell in the grocery store - but real sausages, spiced for breakfast, with a well done skin that snaps when you bite into it. Move down a little further and there would be another tray of slices of breakfast ham - nicely griddled. This was what we would find at this little single buffet server buffet - that doubled as the salad bar for the restauant during the day. In those early days of breakfast buffets, things were not cooked to order as they are in the breakfast buffets that you will find today - so there would be a tray full of scrambled eggs, another tray full of pancakes, and still another tray full of hot waffles. Add to this a tray of home fried potatoes. But that was not all - this buffet was in the heart of PA Dutch cooking and while not a restaurant that generally featured that style of cooking, they had to include some of the local items on the menu and for that they included scrapple and creamed chipped beef. Scrapple is a loaf of liver and grain, finely chopped and mashed together into a loaf which is sliced and then fried on a griddle until crisp and brown. I do not like liver but I like scrapple. Creamed Chipped Beef is a dish that your father or grandfather will make a face at as it was a common food served to soldiers by the Army during World War II - there it gained the not-so-affectionate name of "Sh_t on a Shingle", as the creamed, beef, dripping mixture was poured over a piece of toast. I had never had this dish before this little breakfast buffet and I reluctantly tried it - recalling my father's tales of how terrible it is - and loved it. Get past the association of that historic name (and there is good reason for this name once you see the dish), try it, and you will find that it is a pleasant mix of cream and very thin sliced dried beef. Of course, there were "healthy" breakfast offerings on the buffet as well - a variety of hot and cold cereal and fresh fruits. But you and I know that the fruit and cereal is not what you are there for. Yes, eat this - and eat all you care to eat of this - too often and you will soon find yourself with very clogged arteries and a surgeon standing over you.
Don't go looking for this breakfast buffet as it is long gone - the truck stop restauant is still there but it is years since the breakfast buffet there. Most breakfast buffets are not too different. Others that I have been to were pretty much the same. In recent years, breakfast buffets offer "made to order" omelets, eggs, pancakes, crepes, and such. I am sure many will want to tell you that they enjoy so many healthy things at breakfast buffets - fresh fruit like melon, strawberries, oranges - and of course, oatmeal and hot grains - and dry toast, don't forget the dry toast as it is roughage and it is good for you. But those trays of breakfast meats are constantly calling to you. Bacon has that distinct and addictive smell that will fill the room and it knows your name... "Here, come over here, Bill, Mary, Tom, Jane, all the bacon you have ever seen in one place and it is yours for the taking."
No, I don't do breakfast buffets. But you might like to try one some time if you have never indulged. Just don't make a regular thing of it, because this is way beyond a "hearty" breakfast.
We are night people. If there are three meals in my day they start at lunch and end with a breakfast like "snack" late at night (or perhaps I should say very early in the morning). I have stayed in many, many hotels over the years since the first hotel had the idea of giving a breakfast buffet free each morning. I have never been to one - they are generally closed up and put away by the time we are out of the room in the morning and on our way for the day. (An aside - my opinion about hotel "free" breakfasts - lower the price for the room $10 and forget the so called "free" breakfast.)
Now I cannot say that I have never been to a breakfast buffet. I have had a number of restaurant buffet breakfasts in years past, but it has been so far back that it would not be fair to write about the breakfast buffets in those restaurants as I have no idea if they are still the same as when I was there. But I do know about breakfast buffets and what is offered. And some of them sound pretty good.
The ever-popular Shady Maple Smorgasbord serves a breakfast buffet every morning when they are open starting at 5 am(Five a.m.!) until 10 am. Old Country Buffet has a Saturday and Sunday morning buffet ending at 10:30 am. As I say, there are many breakfast buffets to be found.
One of my favorite breakfast buffets is long gone. It was at a truck stop in Lancaster County, PA. What made it my favorite - and why I went there - was that the breakfast buffet started at Midnight. This had been a regular Friday night thing when we were in that area. We would have a very light dinner - a sandwich perhaps - and then at Midnight we would head on over to this restaurant/truck stop for a breakfast buffet dinner. Now, a thing to know about breakfast buffets is that if you are going to eat what will tempt you, they are a heart attack waiting to happen. Close your eyes and think about a large buffet server tray of crisp, hot bacon. Now, move along the server to see another tray full of breakfast sausages - not those little frozen ones that they sell in the grocery store - but real sausages, spiced for breakfast, with a well done skin that snaps when you bite into it. Move down a little further and there would be another tray of slices of breakfast ham - nicely griddled. This was what we would find at this little single buffet server buffet - that doubled as the salad bar for the restauant during the day. In those early days of breakfast buffets, things were not cooked to order as they are in the breakfast buffets that you will find today - so there would be a tray full of scrambled eggs, another tray full of pancakes, and still another tray full of hot waffles. Add to this a tray of home fried potatoes. But that was not all - this buffet was in the heart of PA Dutch cooking and while not a restaurant that generally featured that style of cooking, they had to include some of the local items on the menu and for that they included scrapple and creamed chipped beef. Scrapple is a loaf of liver and grain, finely chopped and mashed together into a loaf which is sliced and then fried on a griddle until crisp and brown. I do not like liver but I like scrapple. Creamed Chipped Beef is a dish that your father or grandfather will make a face at as it was a common food served to soldiers by the Army during World War II - there it gained the not-so-affectionate name of "Sh_t on a Shingle", as the creamed, beef, dripping mixture was poured over a piece of toast. I had never had this dish before this little breakfast buffet and I reluctantly tried it - recalling my father's tales of how terrible it is - and loved it. Get past the association of that historic name (and there is good reason for this name once you see the dish), try it, and you will find that it is a pleasant mix of cream and very thin sliced dried beef. Of course, there were "healthy" breakfast offerings on the buffet as well - a variety of hot and cold cereal and fresh fruits. But you and I know that the fruit and cereal is not what you are there for. Yes, eat this - and eat all you care to eat of this - too often and you will soon find yourself with very clogged arteries and a surgeon standing over you.
Don't go looking for this breakfast buffet as it is long gone - the truck stop restauant is still there but it is years since the breakfast buffet there. Most breakfast buffets are not too different. Others that I have been to were pretty much the same. In recent years, breakfast buffets offer "made to order" omelets, eggs, pancakes, crepes, and such. I am sure many will want to tell you that they enjoy so many healthy things at breakfast buffets - fresh fruit like melon, strawberries, oranges - and of course, oatmeal and hot grains - and dry toast, don't forget the dry toast as it is roughage and it is good for you. But those trays of breakfast meats are constantly calling to you. Bacon has that distinct and addictive smell that will fill the room and it knows your name... "Here, come over here, Bill, Mary, Tom, Jane, all the bacon you have ever seen in one place and it is yours for the taking."
No, I don't do breakfast buffets. But you might like to try one some time if you have never indulged. Just don't make a regular thing of it, because this is way beyond a "hearty" breakfast.
Friday, February 12, 2010
The Best Buffet Coupon Deals
No, this is not another of our annual awards, but I have to share with all of you the two best buffet chains that offer regular coupons for free meals. I get coupons from all of the big chains. It is easy to do - just register your email address at their website and you will start receiving offers. Old Country Buffet even sends out a free meal coupon when you register - just for registering, but the OCB coupons are few and far between.
The two best deals are the two large salad buffets - Soup Plantations/Sweet Tomatoes and Souper Salad. These chains have buffet locations across the country but not further north on the East Coast than North Carolina. Each regularly sends out Buy One Meal, Get One Meal Free coupons regularly - at least once, if not more a month.
Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantations is the larger of the two chains and the larger restaurant setup. I had the pleasure of dining at one of their two locations in North Carolina a few years ago and you can read my review of that restaurant here. The feature of this buffet is soup and salad and they have an amazing variety of soups and a vast assortment of mixed salads. The offerings vary each month and there are themes that are changed month to month. One of the things that you will learn being on their email list are the features for the month - and always a coupon to go with it. The price is already reasonable but with the coupon two can eat dinner for less than ten dollars US. There are not many places where that is possible any longer. There is also more on the buffet besides soup and salad. There is pizza, a baked potato bar, pasta, and a great assortment of baked goods and desserts. I was very pleased when I visited this buffet on that very hot afternoon in North Carolina - and my picky eater wife after a little convincing from me that it was OK to ask for plain pasta was happy too. This was an experience and one that I wish was close enough to enjoy again some time soon. The only complaint that I have about this chain is that they do not move further north on the East Coast. If you are lucky to have one near you - if you live on the West Coast there are plenty of locations as it started in California (where salads are well known) - get on their email list and start getting coupons. If you are on Facebook, they also have a page and they run contests there with even better deals!
Souper Salad is another chain that I was able to go to on that same trip in 2007. This buffet was in South Carolina - the furthest north location in the chain. A reader had told me about the chain just before my trip and when we planned our itinerary I made sure to be close enough to try it. You can read about my visit here. This is a smaller chain and, at least, the location that I dined at is a smaller restaurant set up than Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantation. But though the offerings were less it was very enjoyable and if anything good could be less expensive, this was it with a price a few dollars less than the other chain. Here again, the order of the day is soup and salad. Like the other chain, there is a potato bar, a pasta bar, pizza (read my original review about the pizza), a variety of really good baked goods, and desserts. Despite its size there were somethings that I actually enjoyed more at this buffet than the other (and I dined here first before the other). Again, if they were only further north. This chain is in the western part of the US and in the south east, but no further north than North Carolina - I think. The website, while cutely animated, has one of the worst restaurant locators that I have ever encountered. It is slow and after waiting for what seems like forever no results ever come up. After a long wait I did manage to get the Spartanburg location to come up so it is still there and the only one in South Carolina. If you have one near you, and you are a buffet goer, you probably know about it. Go to the website and sign up for the "club" and you will start getting coupons- Buy One Get One at this price - two can't eat lunch for that little and here the same price is for dinner or lunch, weekend or weekday!
As I say, these are the best and most regular offers. Occasionally for some special date, OCB will send out a coupon with a reduced price meal if you buy one and they send a similar coupon for your birthday. They are odd with their coupons - they mail coupons in some areas. They mail coupons to my sister-in-law who lives about twenty miles from me and not near an OCB, but here where there is a location there never is a coupon in the mail. I have a nice sister-in-law who sends me hers.
It is always nice to get something for nothing.
The two best deals are the two large salad buffets - Soup Plantations/Sweet Tomatoes and Souper Salad. These chains have buffet locations across the country but not further north on the East Coast than North Carolina. Each regularly sends out Buy One Meal, Get One Meal Free coupons regularly - at least once, if not more a month.
Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantations is the larger of the two chains and the larger restaurant setup. I had the pleasure of dining at one of their two locations in North Carolina a few years ago and you can read my review of that restaurant here. The feature of this buffet is soup and salad and they have an amazing variety of soups and a vast assortment of mixed salads. The offerings vary each month and there are themes that are changed month to month. One of the things that you will learn being on their email list are the features for the month - and always a coupon to go with it. The price is already reasonable but with the coupon two can eat dinner for less than ten dollars US. There are not many places where that is possible any longer. There is also more on the buffet besides soup and salad. There is pizza, a baked potato bar, pasta, and a great assortment of baked goods and desserts. I was very pleased when I visited this buffet on that very hot afternoon in North Carolina - and my picky eater wife after a little convincing from me that it was OK to ask for plain pasta was happy too. This was an experience and one that I wish was close enough to enjoy again some time soon. The only complaint that I have about this chain is that they do not move further north on the East Coast. If you are lucky to have one near you - if you live on the West Coast there are plenty of locations as it started in California (where salads are well known) - get on their email list and start getting coupons. If you are on Facebook, they also have a page and they run contests there with even better deals!
Souper Salad is another chain that I was able to go to on that same trip in 2007. This buffet was in South Carolina - the furthest north location in the chain. A reader had told me about the chain just before my trip and when we planned our itinerary I made sure to be close enough to try it. You can read about my visit here. This is a smaller chain and, at least, the location that I dined at is a smaller restaurant set up than Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantation. But though the offerings were less it was very enjoyable and if anything good could be less expensive, this was it with a price a few dollars less than the other chain. Here again, the order of the day is soup and salad. Like the other chain, there is a potato bar, a pasta bar, pizza (read my original review about the pizza), a variety of really good baked goods, and desserts. Despite its size there were somethings that I actually enjoyed more at this buffet than the other (and I dined here first before the other). Again, if they were only further north. This chain is in the western part of the US and in the south east, but no further north than North Carolina - I think. The website, while cutely animated, has one of the worst restaurant locators that I have ever encountered. It is slow and after waiting for what seems like forever no results ever come up. After a long wait I did manage to get the Spartanburg location to come up so it is still there and the only one in South Carolina. If you have one near you, and you are a buffet goer, you probably know about it. Go to the website and sign up for the "club" and you will start getting coupons- Buy One Get One at this price - two can't eat lunch for that little and here the same price is for dinner or lunch, weekend or weekday!
As I say, these are the best and most regular offers. Occasionally for some special date, OCB will send out a coupon with a reduced price meal if you buy one and they send a similar coupon for your birthday. They are odd with their coupons - they mail coupons in some areas. They mail coupons to my sister-in-law who lives about twenty miles from me and not near an OCB, but here where there is a location there never is a coupon in the mail. I have a nice sister-in-law who sends me hers.
It is always nice to get something for nothing.
Friday, February 05, 2010
The Nine Dollar Cup of Soup or Why I Like Buffets
We were invited out to dinner by relatives who have quite a bit more spending income than we have. The dinner was on them and the restaurant was their choice. Needless to say, they did not choose a buffet. The restaurant that they chose is a small restaurant on Long Island in New York that consists of a bar and a small dining room - nothing fancy with a tavern atmosphere and they fashion themselves as a "steak house", though there is a little more on the menu besides two or three types of steak. When there were such a thing as neighborhood restaurants, one could safely described this as that. This being Long Island, the prices are extremely high. The menu is ala carte. An entree includes a potato and very small serving of vegetable. This is not a restaurant that one would know by name and is not a restaurant that is noted as a fine restaurant.
When I am out like this I always wait for my hosts to order and when looking over the menu and deciding I pick two entrees at different price levels. I always order the one that is lower than what my hosts are ordering. I never want to be seen as taking advantage and I believe it is polite to order conservatively while still having something enjoyable. Both of my hosts ordered salads. A basic salad was $11.00. Two slices of tomato and two slices of onion were also $11.00. Salad was not included with the entrees. As I was not going to sit there as they ate their salads before the entrees were brought to the table, I ordered a cup of soup. Th ecup of soup - a so-so cup of bisque cost $9.00. I toyed with the thought to order the bowl - which was $11.00, but felt that the nine dollars was enough of a waste - and certainly, this was the most expensive cup of soup that I have ever had. I only wish that it was the best cup of soup that I have ever had. Entrees were in the $28 to $40 range, though one person in our party had a vegetable platter which consisted of a few pieces of broccoli, some carrots, and a piece or two of squash - and this was priced at $16.00. Yah!
Ridiculous, but I am sure that there are some out there reading that will say that this is what you have to pay for a meal out. Really? I rarely pay anything near this amount and I eat out quite well. And this is why I like buffets. Even the most expensive of the buffets that we have encountered - even the all you can eat lobster buffets or the fancy five star hotel buffets - are proportionally not as expensive as this small (and typical) neighborhood restaurant. And when you are finished with your meal you have gotten something worth the money that you paid. This is what I mean when I talk about value for your dollar in my articles - and I will say regardless of the price level when value is delivered. Certainly, at this particular restaurant with its high prices, the food was no better than any I have had a most of the buffets that I have recommended. The steak was not as good as some that I have had a Ryans, Wild, Wild West Casino Buffet in Atlantic City, New Jersey, or some other buffets that I have been to. No better attention was paid to how it was cooked - and the quality of the beef was not as good as it was not really tender, as one might expect in a restaurant that claims steak as its specialty.
Yet, my hosts return here often. I have tried to bring them to buffets - some very nice ones, but because it is a buffet their attitude is that it cannot be good. This is an attitude that I often encounter about buffet dining. It cannot be good if it is served in quantity. It cannot be good if it is priced reasonably. But many of you know and agree with me that this simply is not true. Had I left this restaurant feeling that the steak was the best steak that I have ever had and that the nine dollar cup of soup surpassed all other soups that I have eaten, I would not be as amazed by the prices charged because if you are serving something THAT good then perhaps (and just perhaps) you can charge a ridiculous amount for it, but I would still find them lacking in value. And yet I know there are restaurants out there that go even further than this one and charge these prices and serve portions that are barely visible on the plate.
I will stick with buffets when one is available. Now, of course, I don't only eat at buffets, but when I am at a menu restaurant I look for similar value - and around here that is not so easy to find.
When I am out like this I always wait for my hosts to order and when looking over the menu and deciding I pick two entrees at different price levels. I always order the one that is lower than what my hosts are ordering. I never want to be seen as taking advantage and I believe it is polite to order conservatively while still having something enjoyable. Both of my hosts ordered salads. A basic salad was $11.00. Two slices of tomato and two slices of onion were also $11.00. Salad was not included with the entrees. As I was not going to sit there as they ate their salads before the entrees were brought to the table, I ordered a cup of soup. Th ecup of soup - a so-so cup of bisque cost $9.00. I toyed with the thought to order the bowl - which was $11.00, but felt that the nine dollars was enough of a waste - and certainly, this was the most expensive cup of soup that I have ever had. I only wish that it was the best cup of soup that I have ever had. Entrees were in the $28 to $40 range, though one person in our party had a vegetable platter which consisted of a few pieces of broccoli, some carrots, and a piece or two of squash - and this was priced at $16.00. Yah!
Ridiculous, but I am sure that there are some out there reading that will say that this is what you have to pay for a meal out. Really? I rarely pay anything near this amount and I eat out quite well. And this is why I like buffets. Even the most expensive of the buffets that we have encountered - even the all you can eat lobster buffets or the fancy five star hotel buffets - are proportionally not as expensive as this small (and typical) neighborhood restaurant. And when you are finished with your meal you have gotten something worth the money that you paid. This is what I mean when I talk about value for your dollar in my articles - and I will say regardless of the price level when value is delivered. Certainly, at this particular restaurant with its high prices, the food was no better than any I have had a most of the buffets that I have recommended. The steak was not as good as some that I have had a Ryans, Wild, Wild West Casino Buffet in Atlantic City, New Jersey, or some other buffets that I have been to. No better attention was paid to how it was cooked - and the quality of the beef was not as good as it was not really tender, as one might expect in a restaurant that claims steak as its specialty.
Yet, my hosts return here often. I have tried to bring them to buffets - some very nice ones, but because it is a buffet their attitude is that it cannot be good. This is an attitude that I often encounter about buffet dining. It cannot be good if it is served in quantity. It cannot be good if it is priced reasonably. But many of you know and agree with me that this simply is not true. Had I left this restaurant feeling that the steak was the best steak that I have ever had and that the nine dollar cup of soup surpassed all other soups that I have eaten, I would not be as amazed by the prices charged because if you are serving something THAT good then perhaps (and just perhaps) you can charge a ridiculous amount for it, but I would still find them lacking in value. And yet I know there are restaurants out there that go even further than this one and charge these prices and serve portions that are barely visible on the plate.
I will stick with buffets when one is available. Now, of course, I don't only eat at buffets, but when I am at a menu restaurant I look for similar value - and around here that is not so easy to find.
Friday, January 29, 2010
A Bowl of Udon and a Crepe Too Far
It was time for our annual "office party for two". Both my wife and I work at home and decided a few years back when this started that just because we work at hoem we should not miss out on the "Holiday" party. As we dine out regularly, going to just any restaurant is not much of a party. BUT, going to a restaurant that we can't generally afford for "just a night out" would be something special. Now with almost two feet of snow on the ground and icy night roads, there was not too far that we could venture off to - so those big priced all you can eat lobster restaurants in other states were out. No, even without the snow, I knew where I wanted to go. It has been a year since we went to Minado Japanese Seafood buffet and when the subject of Holiday Party came up in discussion, memories of Minado came to mind! And this is a restaurant - while not very, very high priced, is high for us for "just dinner out". And saving this for special occasions, keeps it special.
I wrote extensively describing Minado in January 2009 and I will not repeat all that I wrote there. In a year the price at Minado has gone up a dollar - both on weeknights and on the weekends, making the weeknight dinner $28.95 per person and the weekend dinner $31.99. As I say - high (for me) for a weeknight meal, but as this was our "party" it was just fine. Soda is an additional $2.00 and there are refills.
I had a lot of anticipation about returning to Minado. Sometimes when something is so good you can build it up in your mind and remember it beyond what it actually is. This was not the case and it remains as I remember it. It was at Minado that I tasted really good, sushi quality raw fish. And since I have compared the sushi tuna and salmon that I have had at the usual Asian buffets to this really fresh and quality fish and know that there is quite a difference. The sushi and other sushi bar offerings - there are so many terms for these in Japanese at sushi restaurants that I will not try to identify what belongs to what category. I eat it and I like it - as long as I know the kind of fish that it is, I don't care what the technical category is that identifies it - any way, I was saying - these are plentiful and of great variety. Many types of fish, alone or in many combinations, are found here with several chefs standing behind the counter making more and replacing or refilling the trays out for you to take from. Here, as in another real Japanese sushi buffet that I have been to, some selections come out and are replaced when they are empty by another variety. Something that I have only had here - Tuna Tataki - a slightly seared and seasoned on the edges slice of tuna raw in the middle on a loaf of rice - was there when I first went up to the sushi area - took two pieces - and then when I went back later in the evening, and actually not too long before closing, was gone and not put out again. (My wife suggests that because of the time and what is required of this slightly cooked tuna, it was too late to put out more.) While I would have liked another piece, I did have two to start, and another sushi choice had taken its place on the counter.
Food is in abundance here. There is more out than one can possibly sample all in one visit. The variety is overwhelming and there are things that will more than satisfy most tastes - even if one does not eat fish - which describes my wife. In addition to the sushi there is a counter full of prepared Japanese salads and cold dishes. So many combinations of noodles, shrimp, seaweed, greens, mushrooms, fish and more is found. There was a Beef Tataki which, like the tuna, is raw beef sliced very thin that has been seared and seasoned only slightly on the edges, so essentially it is raw beef. As I like my beef raw, this was not too far from how I eat beef anyway - but it is not something you are bound to find at just any buffet. I had passed this buy a year ago - I had to try it this time and did go back for more.
One thing that struck me on this visit was that the heat of the seasoning has been turned up a notch - some things were spicier hot that I remembered. This was true for some of the cold dishes and some of the hot entrees. Everything is labeled in detail with what the ingredients are - something rarely found at any buffet, but there is no indication of spicy or mild. The labeling of dishes here is excellent. It is very easy to avoid anything that you do not like or may not want to try.
We both started the meal with a freshly prepared in front of you bowl of udon noodle soup. Thick, round, long noodles are cooked in hot water, placed in a bowl and covered with additional items that you indicate to the chef including shrimp tempura. All of this is covered with steaming broth. I love this soup. From there, for me it was off to the sushi, and for my wife it was off to the several types of steamed and fried dumplings that they have. All good.
The entrees were were the same and also were varied to what was there last year - all still good. After a small sampling of several, I headed to the Hibachi grill where you can choose one or two selections of steak, chicken, scallops, shrimp, and fish. I picked scallops and beef. On to the grill he put a thin slice of steak and about ten nice sized scallops. It struck me that this was more scallops than you get in an average dinner order at a menu restaurant - and this was all for me. To this he added vegetables - bean sprouts, large and thick slices of onion, mushrooms, and zucchini. He asks you first if you want vegetables. That is all that he asks as he proceeds to grill it all and add a variety of liquid condiments, a little garlic, and other things until it is time to add hot spices. He asked - and I said no. And no hot spices went in - perfect. He cuts it all as it is cooking into small bite size pieces and continues to grill - no show with spinning knives like at the hibachi restaurants where they cook at your table - but no show was needed. He put all of this onto my plate when it was done. I went over to the hot buffet and added a side of Japanese fried rice - a lighter version of Chinese fried rice - and I went back to my table. It was very good. The scallops were exceptionally good. This was a full and heaping plate of food - equal or more so to what one would get on a menu. After finishing this dish, there is not much room for more.
My wife asked me an interesting question when we first began to eat. Do people eat more in a restaurant like this where the price is high just so that they feel that they have gotten their money's worth? I looked around at the other tables and told her that I did not think so. First, I am sure many people who dine there regularly do not think that they are paying a high price. Compared to many restaurants in this over-priced restaurant region (in fact according to Zagget's the most over priced restaurants in the country including more so than New York City) the price here is average to perhaps below average. NOT FOR ME, but for some. I do think that this type of restaurant and buffet attracts a different type of person than the lower priced buffets and restaurants. The one thing to keep in mind about Minado is that what you are getting is quality and the abundance of what you are getting really is value for the money spent.
No, it was not the money that kept me going. It was however, the idea that it will be a while before I am back and I wanted more of a good thing. So after the plate of hibachi grill I went back up to see what else I could sample. I took a little bit of this and that - some things that I had before and some things that I missed. This was when I went back to look for the tuna tataki. All the while the crepe grill in the corner has my eye and dessert crepes are to be had. But, did I stop at that plate. No! Breaking my own rule of stop when you think you should, I went back up again. After all, I did not feel full. I decided, as my wife sat and watched, that I would have more of what I enjoyed most at the beginning of the meal - another bowl of udon noodle soup. Ah, the mind and eyes truly are bigger than the stomach. I got about halfway through that wonderful bowl of soup and decided maybe I shouldn't have. I did, however, and I finished it.
Dessert is a variety of little squares of cake - of varieties beyond the little Asian buffet cakes often found - fresh fruit, jello, soft serve ice cream, and made to order hot crepes with fruit, whipped cream, and/or chocolate - your choice in any combination. The crepes are made on a round griddle. A stack have been pre-made and are kept hot next to the griddle to keep the crepes moving out to the waiting diners without delay. You tell the lady what you want inside, she puts one of these crepes back on the griddle and then scoops on what you would like. It sits for a bit and then is slid onto your plate. What I don't understand is that she puts on the whipped cream first - on the crepe still on the hot griddle. It does stay intact but when you are back to your table and eating it much of it is now just cream and not whipped cream. No matter - it tastes just as great. I stared with a crepe with whipped cream and chocolate. I followed that with a small square of tiramisu (ok, but nothing like the real one at Buffet Europa) and also a small cup of flan. My wife had the soft serve green tea ice cream. I tried a taste of hers and it was good. That should have been the end of the meal. Yes, it should have been the end of the meal - but that crepe griddle was calling to me, "Come back for another!" Foolish me. I listened. Yes, I was back up at the crepe grill asking for another whipped cream and chocolate crepe. And I ate it too.
And thus the title of this article. Yes, I went one bowl of udon noodle soup and one chocolate and whipped cream crepe too far. I was all right - but I was not comfortable. I can't eat as much these days as I once did - and I do recall those nights years ago of several walks around the parking lot before getting into the car to try to digest - even just a little. I was ok, but I did have an uncomfortable drive home and the freezing cold air did not help. But it did not spoil this wonderful dinner and evening. It was a fabulous holiday office party for two that rivals and surpasses many office parties that I have been to when I actually worked in an office.
Will I go back to Minado? Absolutely - but for me this is a special dinner for a special occasion.
Minado has several locations mostly in New Jersey, one in Pennsylvania, one in Massachusetts, and one in New York - this one in Carle Place.There is also a second group of restaurants under a different name called Nori-Nori. The New York location of Minado is located at 219 Glen Cove Rd, Carle Place, New York. Their telephone number is 516-294-9541. There is a website and the link is at the side of this page. Hours may always vary from location to location so check on the website before you go. On the website you will find details for all of the locations. Be aware that they did come around fifteen minutes before closing to say that it was last call before the food would be taken away. This is nice of them to do - not all buffets are so courteous.
I wrote extensively describing Minado in January 2009 and I will not repeat all that I wrote there. In a year the price at Minado has gone up a dollar - both on weeknights and on the weekends, making the weeknight dinner $28.95 per person and the weekend dinner $31.99. As I say - high (for me) for a weeknight meal, but as this was our "party" it was just fine. Soda is an additional $2.00 and there are refills.
I had a lot of anticipation about returning to Minado. Sometimes when something is so good you can build it up in your mind and remember it beyond what it actually is. This was not the case and it remains as I remember it. It was at Minado that I tasted really good, sushi quality raw fish. And since I have compared the sushi tuna and salmon that I have had at the usual Asian buffets to this really fresh and quality fish and know that there is quite a difference. The sushi and other sushi bar offerings - there are so many terms for these in Japanese at sushi restaurants that I will not try to identify what belongs to what category. I eat it and I like it - as long as I know the kind of fish that it is, I don't care what the technical category is that identifies it - any way, I was saying - these are plentiful and of great variety. Many types of fish, alone or in many combinations, are found here with several chefs standing behind the counter making more and replacing or refilling the trays out for you to take from. Here, as in another real Japanese sushi buffet that I have been to, some selections come out and are replaced when they are empty by another variety. Something that I have only had here - Tuna Tataki - a slightly seared and seasoned on the edges slice of tuna raw in the middle on a loaf of rice - was there when I first went up to the sushi area - took two pieces - and then when I went back later in the evening, and actually not too long before closing, was gone and not put out again. (My wife suggests that because of the time and what is required of this slightly cooked tuna, it was too late to put out more.) While I would have liked another piece, I did have two to start, and another sushi choice had taken its place on the counter.
Food is in abundance here. There is more out than one can possibly sample all in one visit. The variety is overwhelming and there are things that will more than satisfy most tastes - even if one does not eat fish - which describes my wife. In addition to the sushi there is a counter full of prepared Japanese salads and cold dishes. So many combinations of noodles, shrimp, seaweed, greens, mushrooms, fish and more is found. There was a Beef Tataki which, like the tuna, is raw beef sliced very thin that has been seared and seasoned only slightly on the edges, so essentially it is raw beef. As I like my beef raw, this was not too far from how I eat beef anyway - but it is not something you are bound to find at just any buffet. I had passed this buy a year ago - I had to try it this time and did go back for more.
One thing that struck me on this visit was that the heat of the seasoning has been turned up a notch - some things were spicier hot that I remembered. This was true for some of the cold dishes and some of the hot entrees. Everything is labeled in detail with what the ingredients are - something rarely found at any buffet, but there is no indication of spicy or mild. The labeling of dishes here is excellent. It is very easy to avoid anything that you do not like or may not want to try.
We both started the meal with a freshly prepared in front of you bowl of udon noodle soup. Thick, round, long noodles are cooked in hot water, placed in a bowl and covered with additional items that you indicate to the chef including shrimp tempura. All of this is covered with steaming broth. I love this soup. From there, for me it was off to the sushi, and for my wife it was off to the several types of steamed and fried dumplings that they have. All good.
The entrees were were the same and also were varied to what was there last year - all still good. After a small sampling of several, I headed to the Hibachi grill where you can choose one or two selections of steak, chicken, scallops, shrimp, and fish. I picked scallops and beef. On to the grill he put a thin slice of steak and about ten nice sized scallops. It struck me that this was more scallops than you get in an average dinner order at a menu restaurant - and this was all for me. To this he added vegetables - bean sprouts, large and thick slices of onion, mushrooms, and zucchini. He asks you first if you want vegetables. That is all that he asks as he proceeds to grill it all and add a variety of liquid condiments, a little garlic, and other things until it is time to add hot spices. He asked - and I said no. And no hot spices went in - perfect. He cuts it all as it is cooking into small bite size pieces and continues to grill - no show with spinning knives like at the hibachi restaurants where they cook at your table - but no show was needed. He put all of this onto my plate when it was done. I went over to the hot buffet and added a side of Japanese fried rice - a lighter version of Chinese fried rice - and I went back to my table. It was very good. The scallops were exceptionally good. This was a full and heaping plate of food - equal or more so to what one would get on a menu. After finishing this dish, there is not much room for more.
My wife asked me an interesting question when we first began to eat. Do people eat more in a restaurant like this where the price is high just so that they feel that they have gotten their money's worth? I looked around at the other tables and told her that I did not think so. First, I am sure many people who dine there regularly do not think that they are paying a high price. Compared to many restaurants in this over-priced restaurant region (in fact according to Zagget's the most over priced restaurants in the country including more so than New York City) the price here is average to perhaps below average. NOT FOR ME, but for some. I do think that this type of restaurant and buffet attracts a different type of person than the lower priced buffets and restaurants. The one thing to keep in mind about Minado is that what you are getting is quality and the abundance of what you are getting really is value for the money spent.
No, it was not the money that kept me going. It was however, the idea that it will be a while before I am back and I wanted more of a good thing. So after the plate of hibachi grill I went back up to see what else I could sample. I took a little bit of this and that - some things that I had before and some things that I missed. This was when I went back to look for the tuna tataki. All the while the crepe grill in the corner has my eye and dessert crepes are to be had. But, did I stop at that plate. No! Breaking my own rule of stop when you think you should, I went back up again. After all, I did not feel full. I decided, as my wife sat and watched, that I would have more of what I enjoyed most at the beginning of the meal - another bowl of udon noodle soup. Ah, the mind and eyes truly are bigger than the stomach. I got about halfway through that wonderful bowl of soup and decided maybe I shouldn't have. I did, however, and I finished it.
Dessert is a variety of little squares of cake - of varieties beyond the little Asian buffet cakes often found - fresh fruit, jello, soft serve ice cream, and made to order hot crepes with fruit, whipped cream, and/or chocolate - your choice in any combination. The crepes are made on a round griddle. A stack have been pre-made and are kept hot next to the griddle to keep the crepes moving out to the waiting diners without delay. You tell the lady what you want inside, she puts one of these crepes back on the griddle and then scoops on what you would like. It sits for a bit and then is slid onto your plate. What I don't understand is that she puts on the whipped cream first - on the crepe still on the hot griddle. It does stay intact but when you are back to your table and eating it much of it is now just cream and not whipped cream. No matter - it tastes just as great. I stared with a crepe with whipped cream and chocolate. I followed that with a small square of tiramisu (ok, but nothing like the real one at Buffet Europa) and also a small cup of flan. My wife had the soft serve green tea ice cream. I tried a taste of hers and it was good. That should have been the end of the meal. Yes, it should have been the end of the meal - but that crepe griddle was calling to me, "Come back for another!" Foolish me. I listened. Yes, I was back up at the crepe grill asking for another whipped cream and chocolate crepe. And I ate it too.
And thus the title of this article. Yes, I went one bowl of udon noodle soup and one chocolate and whipped cream crepe too far. I was all right - but I was not comfortable. I can't eat as much these days as I once did - and I do recall those nights years ago of several walks around the parking lot before getting into the car to try to digest - even just a little. I was ok, but I did have an uncomfortable drive home and the freezing cold air did not help. But it did not spoil this wonderful dinner and evening. It was a fabulous holiday office party for two that rivals and surpasses many office parties that I have been to when I actually worked in an office.
Will I go back to Minado? Absolutely - but for me this is a special dinner for a special occasion.
Minado has several locations mostly in New Jersey, one in Pennsylvania, one in Massachusetts, and one in New York - this one in Carle Place.There is also a second group of restaurants under a different name called Nori-Nori. The New York location of Minado is located at 219 Glen Cove Rd, Carle Place, New York. Their telephone number is 516-294-9541. There is a website and the link is at the side of this page. Hours may always vary from location to location so check on the website before you go. On the website you will find details for all of the locations. Be aware that they did come around fifteen minutes before closing to say that it was last call before the food would be taken away. This is nice of them to do - not all buffets are so courteous.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Chicken Feet and Crispy Quail
All you can eat chicken feet - sounds like a hillbilly buffet! Follow that up with all you can eat crispy quail. Quail are little cute birds that run through the forest. They look like cartoon characters. They actually taste quite good. The steamed chicken feet were a bit odd. They were very gelatinous and when the skin, fat, and tiny bit of meat pulled away from the bones, you could see all of the joints of the chicken toes connecting to the chicken feet. It was something to behold and to try not to think about as you swallow.
So what buffet did I go to that had these unusual buffet offerings? These both, along with several other unusual dishes were on the Saturday night buffet at D.J.'s International Buffet in Garden City, New York. I have been to International Buffet many times and I have written several articles about it. The last article was this past October. You may recall that this is a restaurant that was very well known and popular and then it closed for renovations for a year. When it finally reopened everyone who knew it was waiting anxiously to return. When I returned - as I wrote about - I was very disappointed. All of what was good had changed - and in its place was not so great a dining experience. That was a bit of time ago and since things have steadily gotten better. It never fully came back to what it had been, but it is not too far off now.
This is not an inexpensive buffet. It is primarily Chinese with Japanese and some American foods mixed in. Saturday night (Friday and Sunday too) the price of the buffet is $24.99 with an additional $1.25 for soft drinks. The price of the bill with tax and tip for two on Saturday night is over $60. This is not something that I can do regularly. I am sure many can - as is evidenced by the number of people that may be found dining at International. Weeknights are less expensive but still come in at $17.99 per person - more than I want to pay for a mid-week meal. We used to go to this buffet for special occasions - before the renovations - when it was more special than it has been since. The unusual foods that I encountered on the Saturday night of our recent visit may entice me to come back more often. This is not going to be a detailed review of the restaurant, but rather the foods that I encountered there on this visit. So read on...
One of the things that I like about buffets is the ability to TRY something that I may not order a whole meal of. I have had a number of foods at buffets over the years that I hesitantly tried - just to experience them. Among these have been fried jelly fish, pig's stomach, and now chicken feet and quail. My first taste of sushi was at a buffet - and I never thought that I would like raw fish. This is the beauty of buffets. Take something you never had - and may not like - in a small quantity on your plate and try it. If you like it you can go back for more and have a newly discovered food that you enjoy. If you don't you push it to the side of your plate and remember never to try that again.
I have seen chicken feet on travel shows - generally it is among the things that you see on the shows that feature eating nasty things that no one really wants to eat here - but are relished in other cultures. When I saw the sign over the steamer pan next to the dumplings that said Chicken Feet I hesitantly lifted the lid and looked in. There was a pile of rubbery looking chicken feet - my first thought was that of a joke shop rubber chicken. They were covered in a thick red sauce. I reached in with the tongs and put ONE on my plate. I was not sure that my wife was going to like watching me eat this, but I had to try it, for nothing more than to say, "Hey, I ate a chicken's foot." As I described above, it was not unpleasant in taste but the texture was gummy and the bones - still connected and flexing at the joints threw me a bit. I ate as much of it as there was to eat. The sauce that it was in was quite nice too. I did not go back for more.
The quail was very good. Crispy quail was out among the entrees on the buffet server. There were pieces of quail cut up in the pain in a sauce. They were not breaded but the skin was crisped - though eating it the thick sauce melted away any crispy texture. I took a leg section that had meat also on the side. It was similar in appearance to chicken pieces but much smaller. In my days, I have eaten squab, which is actually pigeon. This was larger than that. I have also eaten Rock Cornish Game Hens. This is smaller than that. My wife seemed to think that you eat the quail bones along with the meat. I think that she was confusing this with squab, as the quail bones were significant and sharp - eating them would be a hazard. Maybe I am wrong and she is right - she generally always is, but I did not eat the bones. The quail was good. It was not something that I ran back for more of. There were other new things to try.
Another dish that I never had before - and is really not that unusual was red snapper in sweet and sour sauce. There were two whole fish in the pan, whole meaning eyes, fins, tail and all. They seemed to have been baked combined with a thick red sauce with small cut up vegetables almost blended in. The name said sweet and sour, but this was not the usual sweet and sour sauce of red sugar syrup cooked with pickle slices and pieces of carrot that you get with Sweet and Sour Pork or Sweet and Sour Chicken. This was a thick red vegetable sauce that was not really sweet with just a bit of sour taste. The sauce was excellent. The two fish that were out had been picked through by other dinners who had pretty much taken all of the meat that was on the top sides of both fish. I scraped with the serving spoon at the top of one of the fish where there seemed to be meat and took what I could get onto my plate. When I was back at the table I tried this sampling of red snapper in sweet and sour sauce. The taste was good, but I found that what I had taken was more skin and fin bones than anything else. The small bits of fish meat that I had gotten were very tasty. Later, I went back and found that the same two fish were still there in the pan - but realized (sometimes the obvious is not always obvious) that if I turned the fish over there was plenty of meat on the other side - of course - and now I took a nice portion of the white meat of the fish, taking it away from the ribs with no bones coming along. I made sure to scoop up a lot of the sauce and put it over the fish. Now, back at the table this was terrific. The red snapper is a delicate tasting fish and the sauce made it very flavorful.
There are some things that I will not try and there were several dishes with tiny whole octopus. I have never been able to bring myself to eat octopus or squid. It was something that my parents would make as part of a special Italian dinner on Christmas eve when I was growing up - and I did not eat it then and I do not eat it now. Which is OK, because there are a lot of other things to eat.
On Saturday night at International there is an abundance of seafood served - along with meat dishes and many other things for the non-fish eater (my wife). One of the things that Saturday night at International has always been known for is the lobster. It is served on the buffet in ginger sauce and on a crowded weekend night when it comes out there will be a line and if you are not at the front of that line you will not get anything at all that you would consider a decent piece of lobster. This is the case with most Asian buffets that serve lobster and it is always every man or woman for himself. There was a tray of lobster in ginger sauce out. The try looked over half full but what was there were claws and side sections with little if any meat on them. I dug down to the bottom and found two small pieces of lobster tail - each about an inch by an inch that had somehow escaped those who had come before me. Here, as in most Asian buffets that serve lobster this way, once it comes out it will not come out for some time later. It looked as if later in the evening more had come out, but a mix through the claws and such, there was still nothing worth taking.
There were very nice snow crab clusters - all with the legs and top section - and these were out in abundance. No fighting or lines for these - and they are brought out fairly regularly. What were there were not water logged (sitting in the steamer tray too long after coming out) and they were properly hot. The only disappointment was the butter sauce was weak with little of the nut-like butter taste that makes this sauce what it is.
On the sushi bar there were a number of choices that I did not recognize. There was a sushi chef who was telling me what each thing was that I looked at - but he was difficult to understand and I still did not know what things were. This is one of the most extensive sushi bars in this area other than the Japanese sushi buffets. I have to say though that the tastes of the fish do not compare to those Japanese sushi buffets, but are as good as the sushi served at other Chinese buffet restaurants with more variety. (Not bad tasting - just not the same.)
For dessert I had one more interesting dish - a creamy custard in a small foil dish with burned, caramelized sugar on top. This is not the Creme Caramel or Flan that this buffet has served in the past, but very small individual cups with a cream much softer than egg custard. The burnt topping was crispy and crunched as you ate it. It was very tasty and candy-like - as most burnt sugar things are.
It was an evening of new experiences. This was not what I had expected when we went in - but not something that displeased me. I don't know how often you will find these items served. Perhaps we were just lucky to be there on chicken feet night, or you may find all of these things on any weekend night - and maybe even other unusual things.
For the non-adventurous there were all of the usual and regular dishes to be found too. So don't let the chicken feet be a deterrent for you to go.
I can recommend D.J.'s International Buffet now - and that has been a long time coming. D.J.'s International Buffet is located at 1100 Stewart Avenue in Garden City, New York. Their phone number is 516-227-2472. The hours of the restaurant are Lunch Monday to Friday, 11:00am to 3:00pm;Brunch Saturday and Sunday 11:30am to 3:00pm; Dinner Monday to Thursday, 4:00pm to 10:00pm, Friday to Sunday, 4:00pm to 10:00pm. There is still no website.
So what buffet did I go to that had these unusual buffet offerings? These both, along with several other unusual dishes were on the Saturday night buffet at D.J.'s International Buffet in Garden City, New York. I have been to International Buffet many times and I have written several articles about it. The last article was this past October. You may recall that this is a restaurant that was very well known and popular and then it closed for renovations for a year. When it finally reopened everyone who knew it was waiting anxiously to return. When I returned - as I wrote about - I was very disappointed. All of what was good had changed - and in its place was not so great a dining experience. That was a bit of time ago and since things have steadily gotten better. It never fully came back to what it had been, but it is not too far off now.
This is not an inexpensive buffet. It is primarily Chinese with Japanese and some American foods mixed in. Saturday night (Friday and Sunday too) the price of the buffet is $24.99 with an additional $1.25 for soft drinks. The price of the bill with tax and tip for two on Saturday night is over $60. This is not something that I can do regularly. I am sure many can - as is evidenced by the number of people that may be found dining at International. Weeknights are less expensive but still come in at $17.99 per person - more than I want to pay for a mid-week meal. We used to go to this buffet for special occasions - before the renovations - when it was more special than it has been since. The unusual foods that I encountered on the Saturday night of our recent visit may entice me to come back more often. This is not going to be a detailed review of the restaurant, but rather the foods that I encountered there on this visit. So read on...
One of the things that I like about buffets is the ability to TRY something that I may not order a whole meal of. I have had a number of foods at buffets over the years that I hesitantly tried - just to experience them. Among these have been fried jelly fish, pig's stomach, and now chicken feet and quail. My first taste of sushi was at a buffet - and I never thought that I would like raw fish. This is the beauty of buffets. Take something you never had - and may not like - in a small quantity on your plate and try it. If you like it you can go back for more and have a newly discovered food that you enjoy. If you don't you push it to the side of your plate and remember never to try that again.
I have seen chicken feet on travel shows - generally it is among the things that you see on the shows that feature eating nasty things that no one really wants to eat here - but are relished in other cultures. When I saw the sign over the steamer pan next to the dumplings that said Chicken Feet I hesitantly lifted the lid and looked in. There was a pile of rubbery looking chicken feet - my first thought was that of a joke shop rubber chicken. They were covered in a thick red sauce. I reached in with the tongs and put ONE on my plate. I was not sure that my wife was going to like watching me eat this, but I had to try it, for nothing more than to say, "Hey, I ate a chicken's foot." As I described above, it was not unpleasant in taste but the texture was gummy and the bones - still connected and flexing at the joints threw me a bit. I ate as much of it as there was to eat. The sauce that it was in was quite nice too. I did not go back for more.
The quail was very good. Crispy quail was out among the entrees on the buffet server. There were pieces of quail cut up in the pain in a sauce. They were not breaded but the skin was crisped - though eating it the thick sauce melted away any crispy texture. I took a leg section that had meat also on the side. It was similar in appearance to chicken pieces but much smaller. In my days, I have eaten squab, which is actually pigeon. This was larger than that. I have also eaten Rock Cornish Game Hens. This is smaller than that. My wife seemed to think that you eat the quail bones along with the meat. I think that she was confusing this with squab, as the quail bones were significant and sharp - eating them would be a hazard. Maybe I am wrong and she is right - she generally always is, but I did not eat the bones. The quail was good. It was not something that I ran back for more of. There were other new things to try.
Another dish that I never had before - and is really not that unusual was red snapper in sweet and sour sauce. There were two whole fish in the pan, whole meaning eyes, fins, tail and all. They seemed to have been baked combined with a thick red sauce with small cut up vegetables almost blended in. The name said sweet and sour, but this was not the usual sweet and sour sauce of red sugar syrup cooked with pickle slices and pieces of carrot that you get with Sweet and Sour Pork or Sweet and Sour Chicken. This was a thick red vegetable sauce that was not really sweet with just a bit of sour taste. The sauce was excellent. The two fish that were out had been picked through by other dinners who had pretty much taken all of the meat that was on the top sides of both fish. I scraped with the serving spoon at the top of one of the fish where there seemed to be meat and took what I could get onto my plate. When I was back at the table I tried this sampling of red snapper in sweet and sour sauce. The taste was good, but I found that what I had taken was more skin and fin bones than anything else. The small bits of fish meat that I had gotten were very tasty. Later, I went back and found that the same two fish were still there in the pan - but realized (sometimes the obvious is not always obvious) that if I turned the fish over there was plenty of meat on the other side - of course - and now I took a nice portion of the white meat of the fish, taking it away from the ribs with no bones coming along. I made sure to scoop up a lot of the sauce and put it over the fish. Now, back at the table this was terrific. The red snapper is a delicate tasting fish and the sauce made it very flavorful.
There are some things that I will not try and there were several dishes with tiny whole octopus. I have never been able to bring myself to eat octopus or squid. It was something that my parents would make as part of a special Italian dinner on Christmas eve when I was growing up - and I did not eat it then and I do not eat it now. Which is OK, because there are a lot of other things to eat.
On Saturday night at International there is an abundance of seafood served - along with meat dishes and many other things for the non-fish eater (my wife). One of the things that Saturday night at International has always been known for is the lobster. It is served on the buffet in ginger sauce and on a crowded weekend night when it comes out there will be a line and if you are not at the front of that line you will not get anything at all that you would consider a decent piece of lobster. This is the case with most Asian buffets that serve lobster and it is always every man or woman for himself. There was a tray of lobster in ginger sauce out. The try looked over half full but what was there were claws and side sections with little if any meat on them. I dug down to the bottom and found two small pieces of lobster tail - each about an inch by an inch that had somehow escaped those who had come before me. Here, as in most Asian buffets that serve lobster this way, once it comes out it will not come out for some time later. It looked as if later in the evening more had come out, but a mix through the claws and such, there was still nothing worth taking.
There were very nice snow crab clusters - all with the legs and top section - and these were out in abundance. No fighting or lines for these - and they are brought out fairly regularly. What were there were not water logged (sitting in the steamer tray too long after coming out) and they were properly hot. The only disappointment was the butter sauce was weak with little of the nut-like butter taste that makes this sauce what it is.
On the sushi bar there were a number of choices that I did not recognize. There was a sushi chef who was telling me what each thing was that I looked at - but he was difficult to understand and I still did not know what things were. This is one of the most extensive sushi bars in this area other than the Japanese sushi buffets. I have to say though that the tastes of the fish do not compare to those Japanese sushi buffets, but are as good as the sushi served at other Chinese buffet restaurants with more variety. (Not bad tasting - just not the same.)
For dessert I had one more interesting dish - a creamy custard in a small foil dish with burned, caramelized sugar on top. This is not the Creme Caramel or Flan that this buffet has served in the past, but very small individual cups with a cream much softer than egg custard. The burnt topping was crispy and crunched as you ate it. It was very tasty and candy-like - as most burnt sugar things are.
It was an evening of new experiences. This was not what I had expected when we went in - but not something that displeased me. I don't know how often you will find these items served. Perhaps we were just lucky to be there on chicken feet night, or you may find all of these things on any weekend night - and maybe even other unusual things.
For the non-adventurous there were all of the usual and regular dishes to be found too. So don't let the chicken feet be a deterrent for you to go.
I can recommend D.J.'s International Buffet now - and that has been a long time coming. D.J.'s International Buffet is located at 1100 Stewart Avenue in Garden City, New York. Their phone number is 516-227-2472. The hours of the restaurant are Lunch Monday to Friday, 11:00am to 3:00pm;Brunch Saturday and Sunday 11:30am to 3:00pm; Dinner Monday to Thursday, 4:00pm to 10:00pm, Friday to Sunday, 4:00pm to 10:00pm. There is still no website.
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