[Photograph: Robyn Lee] Eating at a buffet isn't as simple as picking whatever you want from the steaming trays and piling them onto your plate. As Eating the Road's All-Inclusive All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Guide shows, there's much, much more. His frighteningly comprehensive guide covers eight aspects of buffet dining—Types of Buffets, Objective, Preparation, Location, Pre-meal Setup, Strategy, Etiquette, and Exit Strategy and Post Game—to ensure that you get the most out of your buffet dollars and fully recuperate from a meal that will probably tax your digestive system within an inch of its life. Time to break out those antacids. Related All-You-Can-Eat Restaurants: Great Deal, Or Bad Policy? How-To: Eat All You Can Eat Behind the Scenes at the World's...
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[Photo: Robyn Lee] In the United States, all-you-can-eat restaurant franchises are hardly a novel concept, but in the UK, they're more of a new arrival. In a piece about the new British buffet chain Taybarns, BBC News asks whether all-you-can-eat buffets encourage excessive eating. With warnings that the UK is following the US with rising levels of obesity, isn't this sort of dining experience a cause for concern? "When I come here I pig out," one diner is quoted as saying. "I've had two puddings already. I'll be regretting it when I go on the scales next week." Others echo similar sentiments. Sure, you might fill up a plate with more than you need, when you've already paid for...
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Somewhere in cartoonland, Homer Simpson guffaws heartily at the fact that this information is not common knowledge and has to be compiled online. But for the rest of us, here's a guide to getting the most out of an all-you-can-eat buffet. Rules 1 and 2 (there are nine total): Rule #1: Do a Lap Before you Commit. This one is obvious, but there's nothing worse than getting to the end of the buffet line, and having to balance a nice piece of Fillet Mignon on top of a pile of iceberg lettuce and industrial ranch dressing. Don't feel awkward about cruising the entire layout before you pick up a plate. Rule #2: Focus on the Expensive Stuff. That's one of...
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When I think of places to go for buffets, I tend to think "Vegas!" and not really ever "Ohio!"—but the Holmes County Amish Flea Market in Walnut Creek, Ohio, recently claimed the Guinness World Record for World's Largest Buffet. The Cleveland Scene checked out the carnage: The scrumptious-looking fried chicken is gone by 11:40. Roast beef is history by noon. "This was a helluva long way to come for beans," grumbles one old-timer, as he chisels bits of meat loaf off the bottom of an aluminum pan. Finally, by 3:30—with hundreds of people still in line—carnivores are completely out of luck. To compensate, volunteers begin giving away copies of the event's $15 cookbook; nonetheless, nearly 50 pissed-off diners eventually demand...
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