vip in the city

Harvest Buffet

I’m not a tremendous fan of the buffet-style eating, though I have been known to frequent my neighborhood all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant – according to the New York Press, “Best Place to Eat Seven Eel Rolls Because You Must.”

That title pretty much sums up my aversion to such places: for too many, the urge to maximize value — to “win,” as it were — compels diners to approach “all you can eat” as a challenge.

Often, AYCE conjures stomach-churning trips to Old Country Buffet – in fact, the chain’s website is www.buffet.com — though in recent years, upscale entrants like the East Buffets and Todai ne Minado have brought at least the quality of buffet selections to a higher level; at peak mealtimes, though, the Flushing crowds continue to barrel their way to the lobster tray with the aggression of soccer hooligans.

After a rather lackluster buffet experience at Mohegan Sun just last weekend, I wasn’t really in the mood for another gorgefest. But when we found ourselves in Long Island this afternoon – a mere six days after Fathers Day – a trip to Harvest Buffet in Great Neck seemed a foregone conclusion.

The quantity and variety of food on display is pretty staggering: standard Chinese, Korean, and Japanese dishes, ranging from typical Americanized fare to jellyfish salad and peking duck – yum! (The banner outside also touts French cuisine; I’m not so sure.  French fries, maybe.)  The constant stream of diners makes for rapid turnover – especially among higher ticket items like the sushi/sashimi and giant Alaska Snow crab legs – ensuring that most of the food is pretty fresh.

The key to a pleasant buffet experience – during and, more importantly, afterwards – is not to eat as if you were competing with your fellow diners: stuffing your face, Joey Chestnut-style. [Prior to this year’s Mustard Belt face-off, this analogy would have read: Takeru Kobayashi-style.] There is a difference, after all, between ”all you can  eat” and ”all you should  eat.”

That difference, however, is usually obliterated by the dessert table, with its limitless supply of soft serve ice creams, cookies and pastries, mango puddings, sweet rice dumplings, tong shui and bubble teas.