Even the blue-haired ladies from Idaho know that it’s now safe to eat seafood in the desert. New evidence of this is provided by two new seafood buffets, which both raise the bar and redefine the genre.
The Rio’s Village Seafood Buffet is a Vegas extravaganza to rival a Cirque show or the newest high-rise. How about the fact that the buffet serves 3,000 covers a day, or 25,000 pounds of lobster a month? What’s more, the buffet is housed in 13,000 square feet of space, done up in attractive ocean blues and frosty whites.
Executive Chef George Bargisen oversees this Augean operation, which includes a whopping 15 stations, excluding desserts. Perhaps your strategy is to throw caution to the wind and simply pile up those plates randomly. Personally, I don’t enjoy attacking a buffet in this fashion, so here’s a brief rundown on what you can expect.
One way to start would be with Mediterranean tapas, or small dishes, such as a terrific marinated calamari and Bay shrimp salad. From there, you could progress to a display of chilled seafood, squeaky fresh clams and oysters on the half shell, crab legs and even the prized claws, partially shelled.
If you fancy sushi, several varieties are present, as well as sashimi, plus accompaniment condiments such as pickled ginger, wasabi, seaweed salad and edamame, green soy beans with a sprinkle of sea salt on them. At North and South American soup stations, you’ll try exotic soup creations such as Brazilian shrimp and okra chowder, Chilean bean soup, or a great version of a classic New England clam chowder. Just taste them, though. You’re far from the finish line in this place.
South American coastal dishes such as moqueca, a rich, spicy seafood stew laced with coconut milk from northern Brazil, or pastel de choclo, a Chilean corn cake, beckon you next, and you might pair one of these dishes with a hand-carved Brazilian meat such as alho, garlic-rubbed top sirloin, or Brazilian-style chicken.
Yes, there is a teppan station like the one at your neighborhood Benihana, serving udon noodles, shrimp tempura and those slice-and-dice griddled meats and veggies. And it goes without saying that there are Chinese and Mexican dishes galore. The roast duck is one of the best Chinese options, as are any of a half-dozen types of dim sum. From the Baja Station Hot, a good bet is a seafood enchilada, or the catch of the day à la Veracruz.
Seafood Newburg from this country, Moroccan-style casseroles and salads for rabbits, or people who don’t know how to eat at a seafood buffet, round out a list of dishes far too numerous to list. Did you save room for a piece of homemade cheesecake? I did not!
By contrast, the new Sunday-only Seafood Buffet at Feast, in Green Valley Ranch, seems like a poor cousin. The good news is that it’s far less expensive than its rival.
Like most locals buffets, this one is divided into stations as well: American, Chinese, Mexican, Italian and a Mongolian barbecue station, plus a huge cold buffet for salad and shellfish, a giant dessert station featuring reduced-sugar desserts and a Breyer’s ice cream stand. If you’ve eaten at a Feast Buffet before, not much has changed, other than the fact that a lot has been added.
The cold buffet is where you’ll start, an enormous table heaped with virtual mountains of Pacific oysters, chilled, cooked shrimp, mussels from Prince Edward Island and Little Neck clams. Then, meander over to the Mongolian barbecue, to choose crab legs that are sautéed in garlic, chilies and rice wine, to order.
The Mexican station has mussels and tilapia in a piquant red sauce, and also a crab dish composed of the legs, shell on, in a rich, intense, Mexican-style seafood sauce. Over in the Chinese section, you’ll find stir-fried squid, salmon in black bean sauce and delicious stir-fried udon, thick Japanese noodles, with shrimp and baby scallops.
In the main carving section, there is baked salmon, carved to order, with a nice, creamy dill sauce, an acceptable paella enriched with sausage and fresh clam and battered pieces of Icelandic cod, if you fancy fish and chips.
There is also a selection of sushi, and the possibility to have a vegetable stir-fry, done to order. Desserts are a strong suit at this buffet. I’m a big fan of the bread pudding, and a do-it-yourself soft-serve sundae bar has all the trimmings. The only thing lacking here is a proper metal tool to crack the crab. The plastic thing they provide for you to dig the meat from the shell is inefficient, but at these prices, hey, what more can you expect?
Village Seafood Buffet
Inside the Rio, 777-7777. Open 4-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; until 11 p.m. Friday. $38 per person; $23.99 for children ages 4-8; children three and under, free.
The Seafood Buffet at Feast
Inside Green Valley Ranch, 617-7777. Open Sunday, 8 a.m.-9 p.m. $23.99, or $21.99 for Station Boarding Pass members.