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  • #16
    Re: Buffet Behavior

    There is a method to the madness of buffets.

    I like to go for the desserts first to fill me up fast with small portions loaded with calories.

    Then I hit the prime rib and a potato as the appetite killer.

    A salad of fruit and poke rounds out my meal.

    If I still have room for more I then hit the main buffet line for whatever my appetite can handle (usually small portions of chicken or the mahi).

    When I attack buffets that way, I tend to eat less and get to sample the desserts. Typically you do the normal routine and eat dessert last. By the time you get to that moment, the good stuff is usually gone and you end up eating those small squares of fudge with macadamia nuts sprinkled on top.
    Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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    • #17
      Re: Buffet Behavior

      We don't have buffets over here....but if we did, I'd wear a muumuu and pig out and thoroughly enjoy myself.
      http://thissmallfrenchtown.blogspot.com/
      http://thefrenchneighbor.blogspot.com/

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      • #18
        Re: Buffet Behavior

        When I was younger....much younger, buffets were my favorite. It bordered on gluttony on my part. I always got my money's worth and more.

        Today, I am much more selective. The idea of a buffet, the idea of excess, is not where I am coming from today. In general, I find that the food is not as good, the food tends to be cold, and the utensils dropped into the food turns my stomach. On the plus side, I do like to sample foods I may not order off a menu. So I only visit a buffet maybe twice a year and I am very particular about which one I visit.

        My favorite buffet in the world right now is at the Cabo del Sol Golf Clubhouse in Los Cabos, Mexico. Unlimited lobster, shrimp, scallops, lemon grass chicken, several fish selections including dorado and cabrilla (mahi mahi and sea bass), prime rib, Mexican specialties, and for desert unlimited Haagen Dazs sundaes with three flavors and all the condiments. What makes it really special is California champagne, killer view on the Sea of Cortez, and the Smooth Brothers playing light acoustical jazz - Bosa Nova, standards, and oldies from the 50's and 60's. All this for $39.00. Eating in Mexico is a leisurely affair. We have sat in the restarant for 5 hours listening to the music, chatting with friends,........and grazing.

        Ofa 'atu
        Mui Houma
        Last edited by matapule; May 7, 2008, 04:11 AM.
        Peace, Love, and Local Grindz

        People who form FIRM opinions with so little knowledge only pretend to be open-minded. They select their facts like food from a buffet. David R. Dow

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        • #19
          Re: Buffet Behavior

          Here's what I do when it's a crowded Buffet, like on Mother's Day. I start with dessert. It is usually "untouched" and I can get what I want first. I know it's strange, but that way I don't fill up on it because I'm saving room for the "main meal" ,but not too full for the sweets.
          Listen to KEITH AND THE GIRLsigpic

          Stupid people come in all flavors-buzz1941
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          • #20
            Re: Buffet Behavior

            The way I look at, as long as you don't WASTE food by grabbing more than you can eat, that's all that matters.

            I'm sure nothing drives buffet restaurant managers more crazy then seeing plates of uneaten food being thrown away. More so than someone there pigging out.

            But that can sometimes be unavoidable when you grab something to try, and end up not liking it. I'll usually do my best to finish it, but if it's absolutely horrible, I won't force myself to.

            Most "normal" folks who go to buffets, at least in my observation, eat only until their content and full, and not there stuffing themselves silly like they're at a Nathan's Hot Dog competition.

            There are times though, like once when we were at Makino Chaya, a group of what looked like college football players there, and you should have seen the plates they were bringing back to the table. We're talking MOUNTAINS of food that could be measured in POUNDS, not ounces.

            It would be funny to see a buffet restaurant charge people by their body weight (and actually use a scale to check!): 0-100 lbs. - $10/person; 101-150 lbs. - $15/person; 150-200 lbs. - $20, 201 lbs. and above - $30.

            I have a small stomach capacity, so whatever room that's there, I skip the starches (except for Nigiri Sushi of course!), and save room for the good stuff like the Shrimp Tempura, Sashimi, Poke and Teppanyaki steak.

            As for the utensils and germs issue, I just try not to think about it.
            sigpic The Tasty Island

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            • #21
              Re: Buffet Behavior

              Originally posted by Pomai View Post
              [...]
              As for the utensils and germs issue, I just try not to think about it.
              The way I see it, the dining public is at the mercy of every restaurant. In addition to the staff's germs and whatever else an angry employee might add, buffets expose food to the public's germs. Did anyone see the magazine show's (20/20, Dateline...can't remember which one) expose, with hidden camera, of what can go on in the kitchen? Disgusting.

              Eating in a restaurant is a matter of trust.

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              • #22
                Re: Buffet Behavior

                Oooh, all this buffet talk....right now I'm really missing the Flamingo Chuckwagon. I thought they had the best fried chicken.

                Wife and I eat to get our money's worth, but not by bulk. We go for the expensive stuff. Wife for seafood and I for the prime rib. These past years, I've been able to forego rice, so I can simply eat all meat and some veggies. I still like my rice, but it's just not as important in a meal anymore, even at home.

                Eh, Scriv, the Willows buffet always has roast pork, or more like suckling pig, at their carving table along with the prime rib.

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                • #23
                  Re: Buffet Behavior

                  I like to try things I would not usually order and hit a few favorites. I have watched others get the dessert first and hoard it at the table, then hurry back to fill the entree plate. I go straight for the entrees and have some fruit for dessert, maybe a little piece of leftover cake (it's usualy gone by the time I get there...better for me, but that's why the hoarding, I guess...gotta watch for new dessert to come out!)

                  I have been to Todai's outside of Washington DC with family twice now, and I felt we ate our money's worth and I enjoyed it. I also felt it was cleaner than most buffets. I want to try Anna Miller's...drive by it frequently.

                  But anytime we eat out I always remember my microbiology professor's discussions. It is a miracle that people do not get sick more often, no matter if you eat at a buffet or at any restaurant. I do believe in the idea that if you eat out often you are not as susceptible to low levels of bacteria. So if you eat out rarely you have not been "inoculated" as well, so are more prone to illness. (Scratch that idea for immune-challenged individuals.)

                  So even the greasiest greasy-spoons have their place. Time to eat out!!

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                  • #24
                    Re: Buffet Behavior

                    I LOVE buffets! What can I say, I LOVE to eat!

                    I judge them on whether they have oysters (as you can see from the thread I just posted) - I cannot stand CHANs, didn't really like Todai and was unimpressed at Tsukijis.

                    My usual spot is Makino Chaya - the one at Aloha Tower coz it's close to work. We used to go to the one at Pearl City (before Aloha Tower opened) and I gotta admit, I liked it better when they had menu options as well. You could order oysters and lamb chops (and I always did) but I guess they just stick to what's on the buffet now.

                    Oh sorry, this thread is about buffet behavior, right? OK, so I pig out on the seafood, meats, some veggies (definitely potatos in any form, baked, mashed, french fried) and I never bother with dessert. I usually don't have any room for it anyway!
                    Toku toa, he toa rangatira ~ He whakatauki
                    My bravery is inherited from the chiefs who were my forebears ~ Maori whakatauki

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                    • #25
                      Re: Buffet Behavior

                      Of all the types of buffets, the ones I cannot seem to chow down on are the chinese buffets. After a while all that oil kinda gets to me.

                      Funny though after leaving within five minutes you feel hungry again and you end up heading for McDonalds and hit the dollar menu.
                      Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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                      • #26
                        Re: Buffet Behavior

                        Originally posted by Pomai View Post

                        It would be funny to see a buffet restaurant charge people by their body weight (and actually use a scale to check!): 0-100 lbs. - $10/person; 101-150 lbs. - $15/person; 150-200 lbs. - $20, 201 lbs. and above - $30.
                        Weight isn't always an indicator of appetite. I've seen some scrawny guys with bottomless stomachs! Isn't the winner of a hot dog eating contest always some skinny Asian guy?
                        Four Thousand Miles (blog) | MacRatLove (comic)
                        Better Holes and Garbage (rats) | Perfectly Inadequate (music)

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                        • #27
                          Re: Buffet Behavior

                          The first rule of buffet eating: Take all you want, eat all you take.
                          http://thissmallfrenchtown.blogspot.com/
                          http://thefrenchneighbor.blogspot.com/

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                          • #28
                            Re: Buffet Behavior

                            Originally posted by tutusue View Post
                            The way I see it, the dining public is at the mercy of every restaurant. In addition to the staff's germs and whatever else an angry employee might add, buffets expose food to the public's germs. Did anyone see the magazine show's (20/20, Dateline...can't remember which one) expose, with hidden camera, of what can go on in the kitchen? Disgusting.

                            Eating in a restaurant is a matter of trust.
                            I don't want to see how Portugese Sausage is made.

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                            • #29
                              Re: Buffet Behavior

                              Originally posted by sophielynette View Post
                              Weight isn't always an indicator of appetite. I've seen some scrawny guys with bottomless stomachs! Isn't the winner of a hot dog eating contest always some skinny Asian guy?
                              Good point.

                              The "skinny asian guy" you're referring to is Takeru Kobayashi, who won Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest for 6 consecutive years straight; his latest and greatest achievement by eating 53 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Insane! His record was beaten only last year when Joey Chestnut ate 66 hot dogs; Joey himself not being much of a big guy, either.

                              Then there's "skinny asian gal/gigantic eater" Sonya Thomas.

                              But those are professional competitive eaters who are experts at mind-over-matter. I would think (or hope!) if they were just dining out casually, they eat "normal" quantities, and aren't at the local buffet wolfing down 60 Shrimp Tempura in 12 minutes. lol
                              sigpic The Tasty Island

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                              • #30
                                Re: Buffet Behavior

                                Originally posted by kiwidiva View Post
                                I judge them on whether they have oysters...
                                Ugh.

                                (Cough, cough) years back I enjoyed a the buffet brunch at a very nice restaurant in Marina Del Rey to celebrate my college graduation. Oysters went down really well with champagne - but unfortunately didn't stay there!

                                Suffice to say I spent my graduation night not out partying with classmates, but rather flat on my back with cold sweats and wishing for an early death. The following day I tried to suck it up and join my visiting family at Disneyland, but it certainly wasn't the Happiest Place on Earth for me. Let's just say I'm now intimately familiar with just about every bathroom in the park.

                                To this day I won't go anywhere near an oyster at a buffet!

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