I know these aren't "buffets" per se, but I love the grocery store salad and hot foods bar.

I hear Si Salsa has a $7.50 lunch buffet daily. I'm planning to take the kid and grandpa next weekend.

I love buffets. I feel like I'm getting away with stealing without the exposure to the criminal justice system.

I especially like breakfast/brunch buffets. I always have 10 or more slices of bacon. Yeah, I know. Heart attack on a plate. I don't care. I don't do it every day.

Plus, at a buffet you don't have to tip so your dining dollar goes even further.

For a few months, Cazbar had a small, but really tasty and well-done lunch buffet. Unfortunately, they stopped it.

The other buffets I've been to are ok to bad.

I do love taking folks new to Indian food to buffets. The only drawback is that often the signs indicating what the food is are not up. It would be even better if they had a quick caption like on menus so that folks know what they are eating. I think it is common at least amongst folks I know that trying a buffet lunch of an ethnic food is a good way to learn what the cuisine is like. Knowing what you are sampling is even better.

I rarely go to a buffet, but when i do, I always leave a tip, this is where alot of new servers get there training from and they are refilling my coffe cup and clearing the table and trust me, seeing $2 or $3 on the table after I have left sure does give them a sense of accomplishment, or at least a smile.

skeevy cooties

The most incredible buffet in our area (okay, about an hour's drive or more) is the Sunday lunch buffet at the Charles Town race course, just across the border in West Virginia. The last time I was there, it included oysters on the half shell, peeled shrimp, prime rib carved to your order, turkey ditto, an omelet station, a waffle station, maybe 20 kinds of salad (from crab to Caesar,) eggs benedict, corned beef hash, pot roast, fried chicken, veggies galore, a chocolate fountain, rum bread pudding, assorted cheeses and on and on. All for $18.95. All subsidized, of course, by the track's successful slots operation.

A couple of good buffets can be found if one is willing to drive.

On Sundays the German restaurant in Hagerstown puts out a great spread of schnitzel and sauerbraten.

On Fridays, Harrisons on Tilghman Island, offers up a great spread of soft shell crabs, crab imperial and some of the best Maryland fried chicken I've ever had.

I'm not big on buffets, but oh my God I found one that will blow your mind. It's an all-you-can-eat crab buffet. For $32. It is quite a hike, but it almost looks worth the trip. Just check out the pictures. You will drool on your keyboard.

http://baltimorecrabs.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/singapore-crab-buffet/

The one so obvious that no one else has mentioned it yet (though I'm sure it's on Misha's unnamed list): The Ambassador Dining Room for it's fantastic (but not inexpensive) Indian lunch buffet. Also, it's been a few years since I've had it, but House of India on Snowden River Parkway in Columbia at least used to have a good lunch buffet. I could name several others, but those two have been my favorites.

Oddly enough, I can't at the moment think of any non-Indian lunch buffets. I'd like to hear about more, though, because I'm one of those people who likes to sample small servings of lots of things instead of a meal of the same thing. Dim sum, tapas, mezze - it all makes me happy, and a buffet would do the job, too.

crab buffet for $32? i;m there!

If I want to eat asian crab I'll go to Phillips, and save the air fare.

Singapore is at the bottom of my list of places I want to visit (along with Saudi Arabia and, um...well, Saudi Arabia), but that does look like a tasty crab buffet.

I have only one reason to go to Singapore. I have no reasons to go to Saudi Arabia.

This don't look like the much maligned blue swimming crab. Aren't there lots and lots of different kinds of crabs all over the world?

I don't normally do buffets because it seems it is just a small step up from cafeteria food, but my folks raved about Cap'n Jack's down here. From where I used to live, I'd drive by the place every day on my way to work and thought it was a dump. Cheesy signboard that wasn't always accurate. Like wishing folks a Merry Christmas in February.

Turns out, I was wrong as my folks loved the place and thought it was very nice inside. The place was spacious, cleanr, and the servers were very attentive, filling drinks and clearing empty plates without being intrusive.

I asked them if it was better than Golden Corral, and they all agreeed, it was way better.
(They = my mom, dad, sister, and her husband)

So, I guess looks can be deceiving.

Better than Golden Corral? Talk about damning with faint praise...

Indeed I have been to the Ellenborough Market Cafe in Singapore. I recall the splendic array of pan-Asian delights. Heaven. Viv and I were en route to Phuket and decided to remain an extra day to explore these sensual delights. I particularly enjoyed the live baby eels cooked in a wok tableside in mirin and ginger sauce.

Mehek on Broadway in Fells Point had a great Indian buffet for $8. It was open 6 days a week.

Sadly, they closed at some point in the last year. As far as I know, the space (near Jimmy's) is still empty.

I think it's entirely possible that the Asian crabmeat tastes better in Asia, gotten fresh. When you get it here it's usually pasteurized.

gumby, you'll have to wait until (maybe) next year to get that crab buffet in Singapore. Owl Meat's blog post included a link to this article, which indicated that the buffet was only available for two weeks this year, ending on July 12.

And, even then, patrons were complaining about the quality of the crab buffet in Singapore!

I don't think anybody is complaining about those crabs. So is that the Asian variety that people object to or that it's pasteurized? I have no idea. I doubt that anyone can say for sure since there would be no sense in flying live Asian blue crabs to Baltimore to compare.

There are supposedly 4000+ species of crabs.

Sorry, if you were booking your flight don't bother since Singapore Crabapalooza is over for this year.

Are there any good crab dish at Indian restaurants around town?

I just posted some new photos of Singapore desserts for the amazing crab buffet. They have a surreal green coconut crepe. Cool.

http://baltimorecrabs.wordpress.com/

They also proudly feature something called New York cheese cake. That's kind of funny. I don't think it goes with the other food, but maybe it's considered exotic for SIngapore.

That article (from AromaCookery – A Scent-suous Singapore Food Blog) included posts from diners Lou, Charles, and drk, all of whom complained about the crabs being "powdery" (mushy, I guess) and/or lacking in size and meatiness. The buffet manager did post a reply, pointing out that some of their crabs (flower crabs and mud crabs) were not as firm as their Sri Lankan crabs. The flower crab turns out to be the same blue swimmer crab that is being imported to the States. It seems like the whole world gripes about blue swimmer crabs these days.

LOL hmpstd. Honestly I just liked the pictures and the ideas of the spices. I say we kidnap a Singapore chef and have him/her create the greatest crab dinner ever here in Baltimore with Chesapeake blue crabs.

Woudln't it be great if there was a restaurant that adapted all the great crab recipes and techniques to the mighty blue crab? It could be a world famous place. Sadly I doubt that locals would be interested.

Or maybe just two weeks of a crab fest like in Singapore. Only fresh MD crab meat would be allowed.

Owl Meat, I agree that one of those Singapore chefs ought to get to Baltimore at least once in a while and shake things up, given those drool-inducing photos. (It sure beats having to fly halfway around the world.)

The House if India buffet (Snowden River in Columbia) is indeed quite good. The selections don't tend to change much from visit to visit, and there isn't a lot of variety, but the food is uniformly excellent.

Strangely enough, I'll likely be in Singapore sometime before next summer. Shame that buffet is only available for a couple of weeks! But I'll definitely plan on submitting a crab report to EL!

I'm glad to see that Lord Marmalade is keeping tabs on the former colonies.

RoCK wrote: "I'm glad to see that Lord Marmalade is keeping tabs on the former colonies."

I hope he has been making an atonement tour, but somehow I doubt that.

Give back the "crown" jewels!

I love bourbon. Yum, gonna get me some.

Speaking as someone originally from Singapore, chilli crab is practically a national dish. I think a lot of the posters here might like to visit if only for the food and not just crab - Singaporeans eat around the clock and the food is usually pretty cheap. It's a good idea to check out the prices (ask a local) before you head out for seafood though so you don't get the 'tourist price'. I wouldn't be surprised if a Singaporean chef DID fly over to cook crabs if there was enough demand (and a venue).

I told him nothing was too proletarian for Dining@Large

Then let's have a Top Ten Restaurant Restrooms.

How great is Dawn's comment? That's the great thing about this blog – finding someone who actually is from SIngapore and knows the food. I read an article about Singapore street food in the New Yorker a few years ago. It seems to be the greatest street food ever. They seem to have structures, pavillions of some kind where vendors sell their food.

Ah Calvin Trillin. He writes the best food stuff. Here's an abstract for the article. If you're a subscriber you can read the full story online:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/03/070903fa_fact_trillin

Careful Mr. Berg. A little goes a long way.

mr. fancypants, we've certainly discussed restaurant restrooms here, at least twice.

I have to say that a top ten restrooms could be very interesting, although I think EL has a rule or at least a preference against toilet humor.

Top ten restrooms would be like that Seinfeld where George boasts about knowing where the best facilties were throughout the city.

I've never seen the restroom discussion here. I would contribute my thoughts.

Notable,
There was one where a restroom's sinks had rocks in them and Bucky tried re-creating the effect at home, but it didn't go over too well with his wife.

It was one of Bucky's first posts here, and quite good.

NotableM, by all means contribute your thoughts. I believe the last conversation began by discussing that some us (me and some others) are impressed by particuarly nice bathrooms in restaurants and rank the restaurant higher based on that as well. On the flip, if a nice-ish restaurant has a pig sty for a bathroom, that brings them down in points.

In my world, great soups and iced tea can make or break a place though. Perhaps, my longtime love for Linwoods? Great soups, great iced tea, great ladies lav. What more is there to life?

o.k. - my favorite restaurant bathrooms are Bluestone in timonium, J&P's in Hampstead, liberatore's on deereco road and Macaroni Grill on Padonia Road. Outback also has nice, clean bathrooms The restroom in the Rotunda next to Casa Mia's is about twenty degrees warmer than the rest of the building. Seriously, the heat is on in the ladies room year round. It's stifling.

oh, yeah - the Travel Channel's (Anthony Bourdain) No Reservation episode touring Baltimore, Detroit, and Buffalo will air at 10 p.m. Monday night. http://www.travelchannel.com/Video_&_Photos/Video_Detail?lineupId=1387565867&titleId=30202539001

I feel a little bit cheated that Bourdain isn't giving Baltimore the full hour. We have to split time with two other cities.

I would also say that Baltimore has shed it's rust belt image far more than Buffalo and Detroit.

Baltimore and Detroit have an awful lot in common. Buffalo, I haven't spent a lot of time there.

VoodooPork and anyone else on the blog - if you guys ever head to Singapore, I'd be happy to point you to some places to eat. We do have 'hawker centres' - open air places which you mentioned. They're safe to eat in - our Health Ministry rates them in terms of hygiene.

if I'm IN Singapore when anyone is visiting, I'd be happy to play food guide :)

I thought Calvin Trillin was dead.

Calvin Trillin is not dead.

Francisco Franco, though, is still dead.

Trillin still writes for the New Yorker.

Franco is still dead, despite the recent lack of reporting on him? Wow...

That Hibachi Grill may be one of the most disgusting places I have ever eaten in - My mother and I tried it and we'll never be back (regardless of how cheap it was). Outside of some Indian places and Sunday Brunch buffets, our city doesn't have much to offer.

It certainly is the most redundant place I've heard of.

Eve, Calvin Trillin's wife Alice died a few years ago. He has written very movingly about this. She was the inspiration for "Alice, Let's Eat."

Eve, I think you might be confusing Calvin Trillin with that noted engineer, Adolph Hitler.

;-)

Grand Buffet in Golden Ring, for cheap not too fancy chinese.

Anna Nichole Smith - still dead also, in case you're keeping score.

The dead are as grains of sand, beyond counting.

Keep it down, Lissa--you don't want to provoke the "life is not for the living" person ...

Life is a cabaret.

" "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving" (bringing us back to the food thing)

btw - that's from Auntie Mame for those who didn't know.

No one owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death. ---William Burroughs

I think we should nominate Hal as our special guest reviewer of buffets. If he finds one he likes, we will know it's excellent.

Don't hold your breath, YP. To me a buffet is the triumph of quantity over quality.

It has been 6 months since I wrote to Steve Phillips of Phillips Restaurnant, Inner Harbor and I have not heard a word from him. I challenged him, saying the place is a rip-off. Two crab cakes for $29 and they were just "fair." Served with cole slaw, everything else a la carte! Didn't get rolls until I asked for them. A terrible rip-ff restaurant. Tourists beware!(Home-twoners don't go there--they seem to know about it) Ellsworth Boyd

I am shocked, I say shocked to learn that there is gambling going on here.

A great buffet that is no more was had at the Kitty Knight House on the Cecil/Kent County line. Easily the best seafood buffet I've found. It was good enough for me to make the drive from Baltimore several times before they discontinued it.

A coupon came in the mail for the lunch buffet at Enotria, in Forest Hill north of Bel Air. Though it was not actually in my plan of local establishments that I am visiting in my new position, I figured it was worth the $5.95 coupon price. I was more than disappointed. Their regular menu had things I really appreciated when I worked near there -- I'm thinking crab topped bruschetta. There were only a couple of steam trays that included two very plain pastas, fried chicken nuggets, spicy beef that hadn't been braised long enough and decidedly non-seasonal vegetables. The best thing on the table was the Maryland Crab soup. It turns out my coupon was superfluous ... the regular price was $5.95. Return trip not necessary.

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