I passed this place I don't know how many times and never thought about trying it until a waiter friend of mine recommended it. When I went, I found that they had lots of seafood. I had cold shrimp, warm shrimp, shell on shrimp, oysters on the shell, mussels on the shell, crab in butter sauce, clams on the shell, and spicy crab legs. I also had a piece of corn, green beans, sweet mushrooms, hard boiled egg, and tomato with cucumber. They have a small sushi bar (not great but edible), and a grill to order bar that I didn't have room to try yet. For the price, this oriental buffet is well worth it.
Location: Emperor Buffet, 69600 Highway111, Rancho Mirage, California. Date: November 25, 2023.
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When Chef Tony passed away unexpectedly, that larger than life figure left a substantial void at the bar of our daily hangout in Palm Springs, Smokin' Burgers. His celebration of life was held in an airplane hangar at the Palm Springs Air Museum, and it was catered, complete with open bar, by the generous owners of Smokin' Burgers. The spread of food was impressive, ranging from sandwiches to shrimp cocktails to cold cuts and fruit, and much more. It was undoubtedly the most colorful buffet I've seen, a fitting tribute to the colorful figure that Chef Tony was.
Location: Palm Springs Air Museum, 745 N Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs, California. Date: October 18, 2022. I chose all vegetarian dishes at first, but they have chicken and beef too. From the top of the photo, going anitclockwise, there's plantain, corn and red bean curry, eggplant, collard greens, lentils, sambusa pastry, and injera. The plantain was a little sweet and starchy, the curry was mild, the eggplant was cooked in tomato sauce and was soft in the middle but the skin was a little tough, the collard greens were cooked perfectly, the lentils were cooked in garlic, onion, and coconut milk with tomato and curry, the sambusa was stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese and chewy coconut meat, and the injera was a nod to Ethiopia from this otherwise Kenyan inspired cuisine. When I went back for a helping of the meat dishes, which I had with yellow rice and coconut rice, I took another sambusa but this one had a stuffing of spiced ground beef. It was just luck that I got the vegetarian one with my vegetarian dishes! This was an excellent exotic buffet at a very good price.
Location: Flavors of East Africa, 2322 El Cajon Boulevard, San Diego, California. Date: December 26, 2019. Here you just see my first course: coffee, mango juice, fresh fruit (cantaloupe, banana, and mango), a slice of cheese, and fried sweet potato slices. I went back for, among other things, a bun with butter and jam. The jams here, served in bowls, looked artisanal, and there was quite an assortment: peach, pineapple, orange marmalade, mango, strawberry, and guindones (prune, I think). I mixed the guindones with orange marmalade, and it was delicious. (Mostly I've just seen a couple choices of jam in little plastic containers like the butter.) These complimentary breakfasts usually also include milk and cereal, scrambled eggs (sometimes also sunny side up), ham, black and green olives, and pastries. There's always a variety of fresh fruit and at least two fresh fruit juices (mango and pineapple seem to be most common). Only in the very cheapest hotel I stayed in did I not get a breakfast buffet; there it was a simple continental breakfast. The breakfast buffet here at the Miraflores Pacific was one of the best I had during my stay in Lima.
Location: Miraflores Pacific, Av Miguel Grau 191, Miraflores, Lima, Peru. Date: November 21, 2019. This would probably be a noteworthy buffet even if it wasn't situated at Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal. From your table you can watch the ships; it actually got a bit boring after a while, but then a thunderstorm passed through with a spectacular sound and light display. Pictured is just my appetizer plate: three cheeses (including manchego), two cold cuts (ham & turkey), a whole shrimp, sea bass ceviche, green & black olives, hearts of palm & artichoke, tomato with mozzarella, and tomato salad with onion. I continued my meal with soup of zapallo (squash) flavored with ginger and garnished with green onion, croutons, and grated cheese. My main dish was cauliflower in garlic cheese sauce, fusilli putanesca (Italian pasta dish with tomatoes, anchovies, olives, etc), beef in mustard sauce, and salad. I had no room for dessert. Location: Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal, Panama. Date: December 9, 2013. |
AuthorChef Roland has been a legal resident of seven countries and has travelled in over thirty, documenting food along the way. He currently resides in the desert in Southern California. Categories
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