Buffet Review #1

I would like to announce my lovely wife Melynda who is returning from her blogging self-exile in order to co-write today's entry. Welcome, lovely wife!

This past weekend we ate at The Black Buggy, an Amish buffet. No, not the kind of food Amish REALLY eat, as you can see from their carts at the local Wal-Mart which are piled high with Party Pizzas, Doritos, and more Doritos. No, this is stereotypical comfort food. Yep, all the comfort you can shove down your gullet.

The first thing we noticed was the sheer size of the building. It had electric lights and everything. Once inside we briefly browsed the store section which had such traditional Amish favorites as mulling spices, apple cider, and Amish taffy. We paid our admission, picked a seat, and then heading over to chow down.

From our vast years of buffet experience (and no, not that "singer"), at most buffets you will find dozens of different choices, a mere handful of which are items you like AND look appetizing. Not so at The Black Buggy! Sure, there were dozens of different choices but only a handful did NOT look appetizing. Even taking a little bit of each item there simply wasn't enough room in our average-sized bellies for all this food, even if one of them hadn't been inhabited by a tiny human. There was deep fried pork chops, crispy fried chicken, catfish nuggets, good meatloaf, mashed taters and gravy, Amish noodles, beef and noodles, roasted chicken, hamburgers, giant hot dogs, stuffed peppers, biscuits and gravy, baked tater casserole, hash brown casserole, baked beans, corn, giant salad bar, chili, peeled shrimps, ham and beans, macaroni and cheese, loads of prepared salads and fruit, baked potatoes, sauerkraut and sausage, fried cabbage, deep fried chicken livers and gizzards (not eaten by either of us), fried okra, cooked mushrooms, BBQ pork, chicken and dumplings, vegetable beef and a few other things our glutenous minds can't remember.

They also had fresh baked breads with Amish butter, which is, we think peanut butter and honey.

And then there were the desserts. Sure there was the usual self-serve soft-serve ice cream of vanilla, chocolate and swirl but there was also (gasp) fresh made cinnamon rolls, angel food cakes, quick breads, three kinds of yummy cobbler (not the gummy pasty stuff usually found at buffets), homemade cookies, pies and cakes. Lots of pies and cakes. Think of a pie... they probably had it. Well, they didn't have sugar cream but they had custard, peanut butter, chocolate, four or five kinds of fruit pies and... well, I'd best stop. They also had some sugar-free pies but really, what's the point of that at a buffet? And above all else, coconut cream pie which was super-D-liscious!

We hear they have a breakfast buffet...