All of the radical improvements notwithstanding, no form of dining is more closely associated with our city than the buffet. It's a safe guess that the in-fast, out-fast nature of this particular beast makes it desirable for those who come here expressly for the action—the food-as-fuel set—and the stupefying variety found in the typical casino buffet means practically everyone is going to find succor of some sort when they approach the line, dish in hand.
Architect Adam Tihany was contracted by the Mirage to redo the buffet, as it hadn't changed much since the hotel opened 15 years ago. In case you don't know about Tihany, the Strip is chockablock with his chef d'oeuvres; he's architects Frank Geary and Alvar Aalto rolled into one for the restaurant world.
There's Aureole, Mandalay Bay's restaurant famous for its 40-foot wine tower; Bouchon, the magnificent French bistro in the Venetian's new Venezia Tower; Circo and Le Cirque in Bellagio; not to mention his dozens of other benchmark projects around the world.
But this project was special, reputedly budgeted between $12 and $14 million, and in Tihany's words, "a revolutionary new approach to the buffet." That's all good and well, and indeed, this is a buffet the likes of which we've not seen before. The question is, do we care, or as a wag I work with said, "If it ain't broke ..."
Well, we do care, and not because we love the buffet format so much. As it happens, I'm a fan of the design, even if I recognize that the giant "piazza" where the handsome, poured-resin-topped tables are crammed together, has something of a cafeteria feel.
What works are the ability to see every food station from every table, certainly a radical stroke, and the design appointments: corrugated metal on side walls; plasma-screen TVs on the line with continuous images of colorful foods; the "river of gold" ceiling, with fluttery gold leaf running along the room's perimeter; and giant, stainless steel pillars that seem to hold this massive space up, like 21st-century Doric columns on the Acropolis.
Radical things are afoot on the actual buffet line too. First, Mirage's Executive Chef Bernard Ibarra and his team change the menu, or at least tweak it, daily, so repeat visitors are not stuck with a repetitive selection of foods.
Secondly, there are many foods here I haven't seen on any Strip buffets, as well as state-of-the-art equipment like a wood-burning pizza oven, J & R Oyler smoker, and other technological improvements over the competition.
Now the question becomes twofold. One, how does it all taste? And two, is there good bang for the buck?
Question Two is easy: a resounding yes. I probably ate $12 worth of gravlax alone on my last breakfast visit, and at lunch and dinner, which are both progressively higher in price, I snarfled up plenty of luxury foods, from crab legs to prime rib, all absolutely first-rate.
Question One is harder to answer. Because the room is so big, a great many of the hot foods lose considerable heat by the time you get them to your table, especially egg dishes at breakfast and pizzas at lunch and dinner.
Generally, the food is excellent, particularly a selection of dim sum offered for breakfast, lunch and dinner, sushi for lunch and dinner only, and those good smoked meats, each with the pink smoke ring you only have a right to expect at a down-home 'cue joint.
I was expecting breakfast to be the biggest challenge, but actually, I found it to be the most original of all three of the meal services. Portuguese and Italian sausages were on the breakfast line, as well as creamed herring, gefilte fish, and corned beef hash made with big, meaty chunks of deli-quality corned beef.
At the Chinese station, there were real Asian breakfast staples: long doughnut, an oily cruller; the rice porridge congee and a half-dozen condiments to go with it; pot stickers; the spongy sweet cake ma lai ko, cut into bite-sized squares; and lots of other choices.
One lunch, the Italian station had Italian wedding soup, loaded with pastina and tiny meatballs; and a delicious penne with sausage ragout. At dinner, the chef did a fine rosemary-rubbed rack of lamb, and also Brazilian rodizio, broiled meats on skewers with real mesquite-grilled vegetables at the barbecue station.
There is, of course, room for improvement. At breakfast, I noticed sticky buns were kept in a warmer, but not croissants, and that the pancakes and French toast were served with boring commercial syrup. Also, I know fresh juices are pricey, but that truly would be a revolutionary step, so why not build them into the price?
I also wondered why there wasn't a Middle Eastern station for lunch and dinner, a mystery since they are so popular at places like Aladdin's Spice Market and the Palms. And why is the nice gelato bar, truly one of the best innovations here, limited to a puny six flavors? Twelve would look ever so much better.
Oh, well. Management knows their clientele, and they are already doing a land-office business, somewhere around 5,000 hungry pilgrims per day. The talented Ibarra will probably get around to every corner of the globe before too long, so I guess I should just count my blessings and say long live the revolution. But between you and me, it's still more of an uprising.