The concept of a buffet was ruined for me by the now-bankrupt chain, Old Country Buffet, which my family would occasionally visit in the early ’90s. I don’t remember much about the food, but I very much remember and still treasure the soft serve area. An ice cream cone the size of your forearm that was included in the cost of dinner, and thus impossible for Mom to deny, was a big time ‘YES’ for me.
Since I can still eat large amounts of food but generally try to avoid doing so outside of special occasions, I gradually opted out of all buffets and they fell off my radar completely. When an Alaska Current editor recommended Anchorage lunch buffets as a story angle, I accepted the challenge. I invited my big-eating friends to join me in answering the question, “Why stick with one entree, when you can have all of the entrees?”
At my last stop, I reflected on three buffet dining experiences as I curated perfect forkfuls of asada, beans and Mexico in Alaska’s notorious salsa. There I concluded a buffet is best for workers in a hurry, big eaters, and indecisive menu readers who like a lot of foods.
The unappetizing, dried-out pan that sits too long under the red light remains a risk at any buffet. That phenomena alone might be the answer to the question of why to stick to one entree when you can have all entrees. But there are lots of places doing the buffet right, and skipping over a pan of congealed chicken curry or cheese quesadillas can be worth the overall variety that’s possible when opting for an “all entrees” lunch.
I don’t think I’ll rush back to any of these spots next week, but I’ll keep a buffet on my radar from here on out.
Twin Dragon Mongolian BBQ
Ambiance: Slightly dark, a little greasy and outdated. I wasn’t upset by the atmosphere, but I wasn’t inspired, either.
Companion: I brought my friend Dave, who is known for his love of a Tesoro corndog, probably currently has a stash of Sour Patch Kids in his car’s center console, and is also rather epicurean and a regular and talented home cook.
Service: The restaurant was busy when Dave and I arrived around noon, and was adeptly managed by just one extremely friendly and fast server. She immediately offered us egg drop soup, was constantly clearing plates, and asked multiple times how we liked everything. She seemed to genuinely enjoy her job and interacting with her brightened my day.
Food: For the 45-minutes or so we stayed, cooks were consistently dumping steaming pans of fresh foods into the buffet line. I now know this to be the biggest green flag of a buffet.
The offerings included a sort of sad-looking salad bar complete with a pail of shredded cheddar cheese and brownies, which made me laugh, and a buffet of the American Chinese food favorites, like sesame chicken, beef and onion, beef and broccoli, chow mein, two types of fried wings, etc. They also offer the Mongolian BBQ line, which is like a stir fry bar where you fill a bowl with raw meats and vegetables, select a sauce, and they stir fry it for you on demand.
Dave and I took a divide and conquer approach, but both agreed the seasoned wings were really flavorful and crispy in all the right ways. We both left the overly-breaded sesame chicken on our plates.
Price: $20.99 per person
Surprise: Watching them grill my own personalized stir fry is fun, and results in a bowl as hot and as fresh as you can get, with only the foods you personally curate. Dave missed out on the BBQ and left less stoked on the Twin Dragon than I was having only eaten the Chinese buffet.
Skip: Egg drop soup, which was pretty bland and a distraction from yummier offerings. (Also, the salad bar brownie, but you probably already figured that.)
Best Bite: The cream cheese scallion wontons were delicious. Unlike most cream cheese wontons that are very oily, these were light and crispy with big chunks of scallions that imparted amazing flavor.
Later that afternoon, Dave texted me a “current view” photo of his office ceiling, because he needed to take a little break to digest and lay on the floor. Do with that what you will.
Everest Restaurant
Ambiance: Everest Restaurant gives a fine dining vibe with its tables covered in deep red tablecloths topped with white paper. There are cloth napkins, stemmed water glasses, and waitstaff in formal uniforms with white shirts and black pants. The whole nine yards.
Companions: I love Indian food and I always eat way too much when I go. So I knew I had to bring out the big guns for this lunch. I called up my friend Eli, who looks like a modern day Gaston and coined the phrase, “you’ve got to eat big to get big.” Eli can put away serious amounts of food. Though he isn’t known to have the most discerning palate, I figured we’d definitely be able to sample every dish on the buffet line between the two of us.
Service: Everest has a reputation for extremely friendly and professional waitstaff. The servers regularly topped off our waters and asked how we liked the food. They didn’t clear plates on our small table as we got up to try different combinations of curries though, which made the table cluttered and the sight of all the plates made me feel extra gluttonous.
Food: The buffet options were more limited than I expected. Basmati rice was the only base for the traditional entrees: chicken tikka masala, chicken curry, chicken chili and tandoori chicken. It was all chicken, save for the sag paneer (spinach stewed with aromatic spices and chunks of cheese) and some tiny samosas. The adjacent salad bar had a number of sauces, some salad toppings, and two sweet options. Those included Lal Mohanm, which is like a dense donut hole dipped in sugar syrup, and kheer, which is a rice pudding with cardamom and saffron.
We did not observe any fresh food being brought out, though we were dining around 2 p.m. which is the last hour of their lunch buffet service.
Price: $19.99 per person
Surprise: Everest Restaurant knows what’s up, and by that I mean they know everyone is going to want to dip each dish in naan or use it like little tortillas for the various meats. The server immediately brought out a still-steaming basket of fresh naan to our table as we sat down.
Skip: Lal Mohan is very, very sweet — too much so for my taste. And, the tiny lunch-variation samosa are mostly breading with very little real estate for the seasoned potato and pea filling.
Best bite: Everest excels at a beloved classic: chicken tikka with rice and naan. It just can’t be beat. Unless you’re Eli, in which case every bite was basically the best bite. In retrospect, he is maybe not the best food critic.
Mexico in Alaska
Ambiance: Mexico in Alaska had a lot of kids’ art, photos, and knick knacks that tell me I’m in a family establishment. The dining room is adorned with festive colorful paper flags called papel picado and fun stained glass.
Companion: By now, I knew to bring someone who likes a wide variety of foods and can eat big like me, but also wants the calories to be worth it. Charlie is another talented home cook, loves to try new things, and also knows when to set something aside for being too dry or too bland.
Service: The service was straightforward, warm, and very fast.
Food options: At first, I was underwhelmed at the relatively small buffet line until Charlie pointed out it had everything we want when craving Mexican food. There was a seasoned asada (steak), a chicken dish (that day’s was a mole, which has a rich and slightly sweet sauce), a bean chimichanga, rice and beans, grilled chicken drumsticks and wings, and all the salsa bar toppings to make a really legit taco.
Price: $17.85 per person
Surprise: Grabbing a tortilla off the stack, I was briefly disappointed about loading up a room temperature tortilla. Then I noticed the grill at the start of the buffet line, which was fun to use and undoubtedly elevated my plate.
Skip: The pre-made quesadilla. Making that at home and opting for the bean chimichanga instead is a no-brainer.
Best bite: The pork chile verde had extremely tender and not too salty pork with tasty chunks of potato. With that and the chicken mole, I enjoyed delicious foods outside of what I usually order when I eat Mexican.
Jenny Weis writes for a variety of Alaska nonprofits and causes in between keeping up on Alaska's doughnut scene, sliding on snow, and gawking at cool plants and rocks along local trails.
