The Chinese Invade America - Buffet Style

[Originally posted February 5, 2005]

Another Chinese Buffet opened nearby recently bringing the official count of Asian-style buffets in this area of approximately 180,000 people into double digits. Quite a change from many years ago when there was one, yes, let's count them, one chinese restaurant of mediocre quality called 'The Dragon'. The number of Chinese restaurants increased slowly over the years to three, Yen Ching's and Pei's, and that was that for a very long time. Ever so slowly a few more Chinese restaurants were opened by immigrant families. Some where good and survived. Some were awful and quickly closed. Southasian style restaurants followed; a couple of Thai places, a couple of Vietnamese places. The lack of Asian food was a great hardship to me over the years, almost as great a hardship of not having access to a single delicatessen nor bagel shop. But all that has changed since the Chinese Buffet came to town. Chinese Buffets appear to have taken over. There's almost one on every corner. Ands the results are not always good.

Traditional Chinese restaurants have had a harder time surviving since the invasion of Chinese buffets. Yen Ching's closed and became a take-out place, The surviving restaurants saw the writing on the wall and began their own buffet style menus. The buffet is popular with consumers of mass quantities of food. You can see these people arrive by the dozens, looking for a food bargain, heaping mass quantities of food on their plates; plate after plate after plate. Not to say that some buffet items are not good. Most buffets supplement their buffet tables with fresh food grills and sushi, both of which are very good. You can also get freshly grilled meats and decent non-Asian foods at these places. Many of the non-Asian choices, though odd and out of place in what supposedly is an oriental restaurant, are fresh. But for the most part, the buffet's Asian choices offer a plethora of soggy, lukewarm, spiceless run of the mill generic Chinese food, poorly prepared and of questionable quality and health.

Sauces are essential to Chinese cooking. I have never seen a buffet offer any thing other than soy sauce. No mustard, sweet 'n sour, dipping sauces, fish sauce, hot sauce, ginger, carrot, nothing. The lack of sauces at Chinese buffets is a major disappointment and does not allow the visitor to doctor up mediocre dishes.

It is no secret that Chinese buffets are frequently cited by health departments for not maintaining standards of service. Search your local records and you will often find a good fair share of Chinese buffet health code violations that range from lack of cleanliness to improperly maintained food temperatures. Ever wonder why your stomach protests after eating at a Chinese buffet? It's not the mass quantities of food you consume. It might instead be bacteria or excessive improperly stored fats used in the cooking process.

I grew up with Chinese restaurants. A shop across the street from my family's business was a Chinese restaurant where as a kid I learned to like Asian style cooking and how to make some of the dishes. Over the years, I learned how to make many oriental dishes and it has become a staple cuisine in our house. So I examine the quality of Chinese buffet items a bit more than others might. In general, I am disappointed over the quality of Chinese dishes on the steam tables.

Here are some suggestions from a longtime oriental cook if you frequent Chinese buffets:

1. Avoid the steam tables except for rice and noodle dishes. Although not the best these dishes are usually OK because they are SUPPOSED to be bland.
2. Avoid the fried meat dishes. If you want to know why do a simple test. Take apart one of the fried meat bits and try to discover for yourself what the meat is - or even if there is any meat.
3. Use the grill. Know exactly what spices to have the chef add to your food choices. He usually does not know.
4. Eat the sushi and California rolls. It is often very good if fresh. Good sushi however seems only to be available on Sundays.
5. Forget the Asian foods and have the chef grill you a steak. Avoid the steam table steaks. The food on the steam tables are almost always keep at too low a temperature. You take a chance on stomach protests.
6. Examine the meats in the non-fried meat dishes and ask yourself: Is that really chicken? Is that really pork? The chicken is from a wholesaler who uses some unknown process to make the 'chicken' tasteless and rubbery. The pork is often all fat.
7. Find out what foods are made by the restaurant and try them. Some items are such as pot stickersand salads. Most however are bought from a wholesaler who specializes in tasteless fatty salty food.
8. Go to a real Asian restaurant and have a good meal. Notice the difference. Your stomach will thank you.

Keep in mind that my opinions are based only on buffets I have visited in this state. Iowa has never been known for the high quality of its enthic foods. It is probably true that buffets elsewhere are quite good. I certainly hope so.

Postscript:

The latest craze is now Japanese restaurants. 2 new locations have already opened with a third on the way. Unfortunately, these versions of Japanese restaurants all seem to be teppanyaki outlets.

There is still not a single delicatessen anywhere in this area. The closest authentic deli is over 150 miles away and it is still merely a pale imitation of the real thing.

'The Dragon' Chinese restaurant closed and re-opened under the same name as a gay bar and night club. Get it?