Posted on 12/27/2014 7:00:57 AM PST by C19fan
When I was a kid, the paradox of choice didn't occur to me. I wasn't yet overwhelmed by the "tyranny" of too many options, nor stressed with decision making if more options were presented to me. That might be why I fell in love with buffets. Not only were they reserved for special family occasions (like the holidays or a birthday)—I could eat chicken nuggets beside slices of cantaloupe, or mac and cheese beside jello salad.
Buffets are now big businesses, particularly in Las Vegas. The buffets in Vegas are no longer the dollar bargains they once were in the late 1950s. They're fancy productions with Kobe beef and king crab legs that can cost over $50.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I occasionally visit Las Vegas on business, and when I do, I rarely go to buffets, because there are so many good eateries—Cugino’s delicatessen for authentic Sicilian cuisine, Blueberry hill for old-fashioned American food, Rincon Criollo for Cuban fare and Mint Indian Bistro for subcontinental cuisine. These are all located in the “real” Las Vegas, away from the gambling areas.
Another thing is the concentration of ownership/assets in one company. MGM owns about half the strip casinos nowadays!
Gone forever is the 99 cent breakfast at Lady Luck Casino. In fact, gone forever is the Lady Luck Casino....
With the Vegas Strip now a duopoly the need to use cheap food/buffets as a loss leader to get people inside the casino has disappeared.
Way back in the 70s a friend’s parents went to Vegas. They came back with stories of dirt cheap food, drinks and cigarettes.
I’ll have to take your word for it. I just know what I’ve seen and experienced over decades.
gluttony and poor quality
I almost always have the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn. There are no restaurants in our area where you can get that combo. So I indulge. But after one serving of that and a piece of blueberry pie, that's it for me.
In Texas, cafeterias such as Luby’s, Furrs and Picadilly always tried to one up each other, and to compete as food tastes changed.
I do like to eat at “local” cafeterias when I travel. I stopped at S&S Cafeteria in Macon (?) a couple of years ago. Wow, my g-parents would have been completely at home and my kids would have been scandalized. Everything from canned turnip greens, generic mashed potatoes to smothered steak still lives there. I must admit, it was interesting watching the black-white interaction at the restaurant, with older blacks acting very different from younger blacks.
Between regional variations in cooking, and changes in tastes and mass food preparation, everyone should try sampling some of the cafeterias that inhabit our fine country.
Much like eating at diners on the East Coast, which used to be all Greek owned and operated, we are seeing a change in ownership, employees and cooking that will soon exist only in our memories.
You forgot Harry Reid.
Here in the Norheast, buffet dining is considered to be low-brow. You will find them in the low income urban areas but not so much in the affluent suburbs.
I’d say you’ve got it right, except that I think the best family vacations comprise hiking to see natural wonders. Not a lot of money to be made there though, so not much advertising.
I certainly don’t disagree.
Ha Ha Ha, that too funny.
Bring me a bucket.
sheesh! Simple html is all but impossible on this iPad!
They are opening one here. We already reserved the back room for Kiwanis meetings
I’ve seen many a Mercedes-Benz at MacDonalds and other fast food drive-throughs in the North East.
So much for low-brow.
The only buffet I have really enjoyed going to was a local Chinese buffet that closed down a few years ago. When one of the kitchen workers would come out to refill the line, it was usually a Mexican. lol
The downhill slide of Vegas started with the family themed Circus Circus. Kiddie games and a cheap and barely edible buffet. Problem is that parents towing kids around aren’t dropping quarters into the machines. Some resorts now exclude people under 18 from their premises all together.
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