On the Prowl for "All [I] Can Eat."

The pickin's are getting somewhat slim.  If I weren't so relentless, I would be, too.

I love to eat, and little pleases me more than being allowed to eat as much as I want of good food.  If the price is low, I'm in heaven.

There are places that cater to people like me.  In some cases, this approach is their standard offer, and in others, they reserve the opportunity for special sittings.

Examples of the former include places like Jumbo Buffet or Pei Wei.  There's lots of food, and you can eat yourself sick, but the food is not top notch.  They tend to try to be "all things to all people," too, and often, particular dishes are just not expertly done enough.  If all you want is lots of calories for not too much money, they're fine, but if the goal is an excellent meal, they're not at the top of my list.  Frankly, they're not even on my list.  I was at Pei Wei once, and a Massachusetts place called Pacific Buffet once.  Got it.  Thanks anyway.

Many years ago, when I was a kid, the Jockey Club had a Sunday morning brunch buffet.  It was probably $15 or more a person, which was significant money at the time, but I still remember those amazing breakfasts.  There was another place in Miami Lakes that had one of those classy Sunday morning breakfast buffets a few years ago, but it stopped serving this breakfast before I had a chance to get there.

These days, all-you-can-eat offerings are confined mostly to dinner or lunch.  For me, lunch is only one place, and I'm there once a week, unless I get too busy.  The window I have to hit is Tuesday through Friday, 11:30 to 3:00.  It's Kebab Indian Restaurant on 167th just west of NE 6th.  The food is great, and the price is low.  After years, they finally raised it from $9.95 to $10.95.  I told them I was happy to see that they raised the price, even though it's still a terrific deal, and the waitress told me patrons were complaining.  Sheesh.  Such good food, so much of it, and people begrudge the establishment one lousy extra buck?

My other lunch place, but only on the rare Saturday, is Boteco on 79th Street, not far from the bridge to Pelican Island.  Actually, Boteco has a few a-y-c-e deals, but the Saturday one is my favorite.  The featured food is feijoada, which I love.  Theirs is exceptional.  And it's $17.

For dinner, the two regular good a-y-c-e dinners I know about are at an Indian place in Broward, and Texas De Brazil.  The place in Broward is Bombay Bistro, and it's just south of Oakland Park on Andrews.  I hate to say it, but the food is better than Kebab.  In fact, it's amazingly good Indian food.  The a-y-c-e dinner is Sunday night only, and it costs $15.  Spectacular.  Couldn't be better.

Texas De Brazil has a daily menu of Brazilian/South American food, but many people get the churrasco/rodizio/parrillada spread.  Texas De Brazil, by the way, is at the Gulfstream mall at the track.  The great thing about Texas De Brazil is that the food is unbeatable.  Every dish is perfectly made, and there's even more veggies and salad than there is meat.  But it's all there, and it doesn't stop until you do.  The problem with Texas De Brazil is that they charge about $45 for this.  It's sort of not worth it.  I am going on November 12, though, because they have a 50% off special for Veterans' Day.  Veterans' Day is the 11th, but there was such demand for this special that they extended to the next day, too.

Liza Meli used to have a-y-c-e events, at Ouzo's.  You paid a fee (about $35), and you got all the great food and wine you wanted.  She has a scaled down version of that at her new place, BarMeli.  The deal has gotten stingier, though.  Her deal now is once a week, and I think it's Thursday.  The cost is down to $25, but again, the service is not unlimited on food or wine.

At Gaucho Ranch (NE 2nd Ave at about 73rd St), about once a month (they're thinking about expanding to twice a month), they have a "tasting."  For $30, you get all you want of grass fed beef (usually about four different cuts, including tenderloin/filet), pork sausage, blood sausage (morcilla), and anything else they're serving.  Extras have included salad, and sometimes specialty artisanal foods made by local producers.  This past week, they had amazing fresh mozzarella, plain balls and stuffed, and they had local artisan gazpacho (three different flavors and recipes).  There was also locally made sorbet in unusual and interesting flavors.  Gaucho Ranch used to include unlimited wine (wonderful bottlings) within the same $30 charge.  They've now stopped the free wine part of the offer, but they didn't lower the price.  So it's $30 for the food, and you can either bring your own wine, or they will sell you a bottle of something you'll love.  There were about six wines for sale this week, and at least one of them was $25.  I didn't buy any wine, since I have loads at home, I didn't need to spend $25 for another bottle, and I wasn't going to drink a whole bottle of wine myself.  If someone had offered to go in on a bottle with me, maybe I would have done it.  The question is whether it's still worth it to get the food (more than you can eat, and great food) for $30.  I'll think about it next month.

Proper Sausages is a meat market (literally), and they make their own incomparable sausage.  They sell beef, too, as well as a number of other things.  They make their own potato salad, their own cole slaw, their own mustard, and a few other prepared foods.  They sell food made by other local artisans, too.  And they have a very nice selection of wines and beers.  Every couple of weeks or so, they have an event in the evening.  It's a similar tasting to the one Gaucho Ranch does, but it's sausage only.  They serve maybe five or six recipes.  They do sometimes add artisan bread or pretzels and their mustard.  And they serve either wine or beer to go with it.  It's very tight, and you have to stand up in the store.  But the food is unbelievably good.  It is very definitely a-y-c-e (and drink), and the price is $20.  It's a very good deal for such great food and alcohol, and you meet nice people there.  The only drawback is standing for about 1 1/2 hours while you have your dinner.

I'll be on the lookout for more places, and you can tell us all about the ones you like.