One thing I find interesting about independent but sort of template-based businesses—Chinese takeout joints, pizza parlors, ice cream shops, coffee shops, all-you-can-eat buffets—is what distinguishes them from each other. Every once in awhile, you’ll find one of these places that’s a little different. An honest-to-God homemade ice cream place. A pizza restaurant that also serves tacos, or something like that. A sub shop with a unique sandwich. Some menu item that’s not standard.

I was thinking about this a few months ago when I drove out to Warrenton, about 40 minutes west, to try a Chinese buffet. I’d first seen this place on the map back in early 2020, which is when I first had the idea to start doing these on-the-road photo essays. I was curious about the buffets in the more rural areas, which looked different, a little more old-fashioned, than the big ones in the suburbs.

So three and a half years later, I finally gave it a try. Yes, 40 minutes each way for a buffet is a lot. Sometimes I want to drive less, but sometimes I want to hit the road. And the buffet turned out to be pretty good. But more than good, interesting.

Even though it’s a relatively newer place—opened in the early 2000s I think—it’s on the small side, and has no hibachi/Mongolian grill. It does have a sushi section, which is even in the name—Mandarin Buffet and Sushi. Most of it is just variations on the California roll, but there are tuna and salmon and one or two whitefish nigiri too, and a spicy tuna roll. They were pretty rice-heavy. But it’s a buffet, and it was good.

Sure, it’s rice, fake crab, avocado, and a couple of basic fish, but it’s tasty. Don’t think too much; don’t deconstruct it too much in your head. You could even, at least in the past, order specific rolls and the guy at the sushi bar would make them. Like so many places, it seems like pre-COVID this was better. Higher prices, tighter labor market. I hope, by going to these places, I’m doing a little part in ensuring they’ll still exist 1, 2, 5, 10 years from now.

The succession of plates:

One item in particular stood out to me. It was sort of like a spring roll, stuffed with a mix of ground meat and shrimp paste, deep fried (you can see it in the third picture). It didn’t look like something out of a package, and I’d never seen it at a buffet before, out of all the buffets I’ve been to. Are these guys actually making homemade special spring rolls in the back? Maybe. Some of the other dishes were not typical buffet dishes either. The place was minimal and small but clean, well-lit. (The music was fun too—Nintendo video game music tracks!) And the nice little ice cream bar, in place of the now-typical freezer of pre-packaged ice cream treats.

It seems like a place that the owners really care about. A formulaic business that departs from the formula in a way I’ve rarely seen. (I’ve seen it once—an otherwise pretty mediocre buffet that had some very, very good seemingly homemade dumplings, and delicious sushi rice on their California roll.) It’s so nice to see a place with its own twist on an experience that’s otherwise pretty standard and often kind of bland.

A lot of you have signed up since I last wrote about buffets—it’s a thing I do. I’ve always loved all-you-can-eat buffets, even though I like to cook and can probably make higher quality food than most cheap restaurants. There’s just something about the freedom to fill up your own plate with whatever you want, the second you get to the restaurant. Maybe it’s that memory of being a hungry kid, waiting for the food to come, or ordering something that turned out not to be good and wishing I could re-order. Or the privacy, share-proofing, and “don’t eat so much rice!”-proofing of assembling your own plate and owning it. I still love it.

Yeah, 40 minutes is a long drive. But I’ll probably do it again.

Related Reading:

Buffet Chronicles: Disappearing Sushi

Buffet Chronicles: Back to the Beginning

Buffet Chronicles: Royal Spread

Thank you for reading! Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekly subscribers-only piece, plus full access to the archive: over 800 pieces and growing. And you’ll help ensure more like this!

Share