BY SUSIE HUME

Whether you’re trying to stretch your
dollar in this tight economy, expand your limited palette, or you just enjoy
pigging out every once in a while, the all-you-can-eat buffet offers something
for everyone. It’s enticing because it presents a challenge to the
diner: The value is directly proportional to the amount you are capable of
packing in. Therefore, the battle of diner versus buffet is always a losing
one: Either you leave proud, but with intense gastrointestinal distress, or you
eat just one plate’s worth and end up feeling ashamed, knowing that the buffet
has been victorious and you have overpaid.

The all-you-can-eat buffet is now more commonly referred to
as a just a “buffet,” a term actually originating back to 18th
century France, indicating the way in which the food was served –on a buffet
table or sideboard–instead of indicating the quantity consumed. The first
all-you-can-eat buffet was introduced in the mid-1940s by a hotel manager
in–you guessed it–Las Vegas. By the
1960s and 70s the chains spread across the U.S.
like Ponderosa and Golden Corral. But as any true buffet aficionado will tell
you, the best buffet foods are found at local establishments and Rochester has
plenty to offer–from the upscale to the diner; foreign and American cuisine;
brunch, lunch and dinner– and all provide veritable
smorgasbords to please even the pickiest of eaters.

Though Rochester is more than 2,000 miles away from Las
Vegas, a short trip to Farmington provides an experience somewhat akin to the
neon-city. The Vineyard Buffet, tucked inside the Finger Lakes Gaming and
Racetrack (5857 Route 96; open daily 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; $13.95 lunch and
brunch, $17.95 dinner), offers both the wide selection and quantity of a Las
Vegas buffet, replete with “cha-ching” noises as you
dine, courtesy of the slot machines just outside the restaurant. The buffet is
deceivingly small, offering a carving station with two meats, a wide array of
seafood, and Midwestern, Southwestern and Italian dishes, but the icing on the
cake is the giant dessert buffet in the middle of the room, serving homemade
cakes, brownies, cookies, éclairs and an ice cream sundae bar complete will all
the fixings.

While a true fan loves the buffet in its every form, some are
turned-off by buffets, worried that the focus will be on quantity rather than
quality. And while that may be true for some establishments, Rochester
has its fair share of upscale buffets that offer the best of both worlds. With
breathtaking 180 degree views of Rochester accompanying high-class dishes,
Horizons Restaurant at the Woodcliff Hotel & Spa (199 Woodcliff Dr; 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m.; $22 adults, $11 children), offers a singular Sunday brunch
experience that changes each week. The spread always includes a carving
station, an omelet bar, at least three to four specially prepared entrees (by
chef Steve Wilkinson), a wide selection of desserts (prepared in-house by
pastry chef Michelle Carlson) and some more exotic dishes like Israeli couscous salad and blintzes.

For an experience that will please adults and children alike,
head to the beach–CrescentBeach
(1372 Edgemere Dr;
10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; $18.99 adults,
$8.99 children)–for their Sunday Champagne brunch. While adults can enjoy the all-you-can-eat
crab, prime rib and, of course, the champagne (after noon), kids will enjoy watching donuts being made fresh
and then moving down a conveyor belt, ready for the picking.

Mario’s Via Abruzzi (2740 Monroe Ave;
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; $21.95 adults,
$12.95 children) has also been offering upscale fair at their Sunday brunch for
the past 12 years. They feature more than 70 different items each week and aim
to offer an experience that tantalizes all five senses. The piece de resistance
is their pasta wheel: a giant wheel of parmesan crafted into a bowl with
piping-hot pasta tossed in, which melts the cheese and flavors the pasta
concurrently. Considering one giant wheel of parmesan costs more than a
thousand dollars, the dish is rarely imitated. Diners can finish off their meal
(if there’s room) by dipping fresh fruit into Mario’s chocolate and caramel
fountains.

Enjoying oodles of posh food certainly has its appeal, but
sometimes there’s nothing better than a belly full of comfort food and Patty’s
Pantry (2485 Dewey Ave; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; $8.95) offers a Sunday brunch
that fits the bill. Mounds of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and biscuits may
be standard brunch buffet fare, but Patty’s also offers some more unusual diner
buffet food like their orange blossom-infused French toast or, their most
popular buffet item, potato bake, a breakfast casserole loaded with potatoes,
bacon and cheese.

With at least a dozen different Chinese buffet restaurants
and a handful of Indian buffets, foreign cuisine is quite possibly the most
common buffet-type in Rochester.
While there are many to choose from, one Chinese buffet is a sure standout
among the rest. China Buffet (376 Jefferson Rd; open daily; price varies)
offers three full aisles of Chinese food–with favorites like General Tsao’s chicken, fried rice and lo mein–but
they also offer sushi, a made-to-order stir fry bar and a salad bar. Just up
the road in Henrietta is Thali of India (3259
South Winton Rd; 11:30
a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays), offering both a lunch buffet on weekdays
and a dinner buffet every Monday night.

And once you’ve had your fill of foreign cuisine, you may
want to dine on something a bit more local. Martino’s (742 Long Pond Rd; 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; $8.99 adults, $4.50 children)
offers a truly Western New York-style buffet–all-you-can-eat Buffalo wings.
Formerly known as Tano’s, this pizza and wing joint
offers a dozen different flavors of chicken wings, cheesy bread and, of course,
celery and blue cheese every Wednesday night. And if you can’t dream of eating
wings without pizza, you can always stop at Dandrea’s
Pizza and Pasta (750 Ridge Rd W;
5 p.m. to 8 p.m.; $6.99) the night
before for their Tuesday night pizza buffet. They have three types of pizza and
an appetizer bar with items like wings, mozzarella sticks and battered
mushrooms.

And, finally, bringing the buffet full
circle to its French origins, the downtown location of Simply Crêpes (114 South Ave,
in the Monroe County Central Library; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; $15.99
adults, $10.99 children) offers a Sunday crêpe brunch for those who are more
specific in their buffet cravings. You get to try a variety of their
most popular brunch dishes, including the crêpes benedict, turkey gouda and oatmeal crème brulée.

So, Rochester,
with a vast assortment of all-you-can-eat buffets to please every mood, taste
and wallet size, we can surely say, with God as our witness, we will never be
hungry again.

This article appears in May 13-19, 2009.