Super Buffet - Visit #2

Location:  40 Noble Blvd, Carlisle, PA 17013
Time:  1:59 PM
Date:  May 3, 2014

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

There are few ways more a pretentious way to begin a review of a Chinese buffet than quoting Sun Tzu.  I promise to find those if I keep returning and reviewing Super Buffet.  My upcoming third (!) review offers conclusions, and this offers musing on planning visits.  I don't return to Super Buffet to discover culinary innovations.  I visit to eat the comfort food.  There are other buffets to sample, and it is time to

There is no moderation at a Chinese buffet.  That’s missing the point.  Getting a clean plate each time is a blank canvas for excess.  I build a day around eating at a buffet, foregoing breakfast and keeping a light dinner on deck for when lunch tops 2,000 calories.

Seeing what remains on fellow diner’s plates is a revelation.  I follow the “take what you want to eat” instead of the more common, fill the plate in case you might like it.  Diners leave half-full plates of food, locked in unspoken competition to waste the most. 

Plate #1

Base of white rice, solitary piece of fried tofu, chicken and broccoli, BBQ rib tips, General Tso's Chicken, and a chicken teriyaki stick.  The lack of tofu is a failing at Super Buffet, likely due to patrons taking only that from the vegetable delight dish. 

Plate #2

Egg roll, chicken teriyaki stick, sweet & sour chicken, and spicy chicken.  The egg roll is labeled pork and I chose to believe it.  I alternate between sweet & sour sauce on the chicken, or in a little cup.  It makes little difference in the end.

Plate #3

Iceberg lettuce with Caesar dressing.  A simple plate, making up in flavor for the lack of vegetables with nutritional value.  Super Buffet offers a robust salad bar, with two islands dedicated to vegetables, fruit, favored gelatin, and dressings.

Plate #4

Éclair, fried donuts, sugar nuts.  They also offer a selection of self-serve Hershey’s ice cream in a cooler.  

Alone at the Buffet

Location:  40 Noble Blvd, Carlisle, PA 17013

Time:  2:36 PM
Date:  April 5, 2014

I eat out a lot by myself.  My wife and friends do not always share my taste in the latest fast food monstrosity, and are rarely interested in gorging themselves at a cheap Chinese buffet.   This blog celebrates the typical American food, cheese steaks, breakfast platters, and of course, buffets.

Once, I found one good Chinese buffet, a bright, airy place in Austin with multiple tofu dishes and a fresh ambiance.  In South-Central Pennsylvania, a mediocre buffet is top of the charts, and even that is tough to find.  Buffets traffic in quantity, constantly refilling steam tables of chicken resting in different congealed sauces. 

Super Buffet in Carlisle is my place of choice, a solid three out of five.  Spread across six islands is a motley crew of Chinese standard dishes, two salad bar, deserts, and American food, satiating fussy eaters who find Sweet & Sour Chicken too exotic.  The most consistent foods are the white rice and with crispy fried noodles.  A woman, who looks like an aged version of Jaime Pressly in ‘My Name is Earl’, makes fresh sushi rolls, but I never tried them, and have no opinion to share. 

This meal qualified as a lunch/dinner hybrid, justifying the massive amount of food.  

Plate #1

White rice, broccoli from a tofu and broccoli dish where there is rarely tofu, chicken from the chicken and broccoli, General Tso's chicken, BBQ rib tips, and crispy spicy chicken.  The crispy chicken, which is barely spicy, stays crispy thanks to no sauce, while the General Tso's is soggy, no matter the freshness.  The BBQ tips taste like mystery meat, the broccoli is fine, maintaining a crunch.

Plate #2

Fried noodles with a cup of duck sauce. 

Plate #3

More crispy spicy chicken, a chicken egg roll, teriyaki chicken on a stick, and sweet & sour chicken.  When fresh, the egg rolls are fine, if a little dense, and the duck sauce compliments the filling.  But when they sit under the heat lamps, they turn limp and unappetizing.  The chicken sticks are tough to screw up and are enjoyable, if too salty.  Sweet & sour chicken is a low point, the breading is too thick; and the sauce has a questionable top layer, and not sweet enough. 

Plate #4

Fried donuts, cream puff, chocolate pastry, and sugar nuts.  The fried donuts, rolled in white sugar, are a highlight, but this time, they were overcooked and tough.  Both the cream puff and pastry clearly come frozen, and the consistency makes up for the blandness.  The sugar nuts are great, and I could eat them for hours. 

White Castle - Belgium Waffle Breakfast Sandwiches Review

Location:  1280 MacArthur Road, Whitehall, PA
Time:  10:30 AM
Date:  April 11, 2014

Why aren't you closer to home?

The nearest White Castle is an hour and a half drive and I left early to get breakfast during a trip to Asbury Park.  Disillusioned after sampling the Taco Bell AM Crunchwrap a week earlier, the announcement of this limited time offering salved that wound.  White Castle is exotic fast food, far enough away to be a special event.  Introduced by the Beastie Boys with the line “White Castle fries only come in one size”, I waited years to find out of that was true*.  

Arriving near the end of breakfast service proved advantageous, because the cook happily made the entire meal fresh. This marked the first time I saw an actual egg fried on flattop in a fast food restaurant, instead of ‘folded eggs’ offered at McDonalds**.  The sandwiches are simple: egg, cheese, and meat on a toasted, slightly sweet Belgium waffle, served with containers of Aunt Jemima's syrup.

Sausage on the left and bacon on the right

Both were great, the singular reservation being the waffles became a little crumbly with the toasting.  Forced to choose, I'm going with the sausage because the patty better filled the sandwich.  

Glamour shot

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*Sadly, no longer the case, their fries come in three sizes: small, medium, and sack.

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*This is the ingredients from McDonald's website for a folded egg: Pasteurized Whole Eggs, Modified Food Starch, Soybean Oil, Natural Flavors (Plant Source), Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Carrageenan, Flavor Enhancer (Salt, Maltodextrin, Natural Flavor [Plant Source], Spices, Herb, Turmeric [Color]), Monosodium Phosphate, Citric Acid, Soy Lecithin.  Holy shit.