Texas is known for going big or not going at all, and so I wasn't all too surprised when I saw signs for buffets all over the city. I had the gluttonous pleasure of trying out some of these all you can eats, including sushi, Korean BBQ, Mediterranean, texmex. Here are my thoughts on them:

Gui (2719 McKinney Ave, Dallas)

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, Gui offers an all you can eat deal - $20 for regular rolls only or $25 for regular plus specialty rolls. This is by far the best value, especially if you order primarily the specialty rolls, which are normally ~$8 a roll. We (two people) ordered 21 rolls, which would have likely cost us ~$150 had we ordered each a la carte.

The caveat is that you have to pay for anything that you don't eat and you can't be shady and eat everything but the rice.

Terra (5910 N Macarthur Blvd, Irving)

For less than $13, Terra's Mediterranean lunch buffet offers a plethora of meat options, with even more salad and vegetarian choices. Anyone looking for dessert, however, will have to look elsewhere. There are only fresh fruits and rice pudding that fit in the sweets category.

Sura Korean Bistro (2240 Royal Ln, Dallas)

Sura offers about a dozen selection of meats ranging from chicken to brisket, but no fish. There's a small selection of self-served vegetables that include carrots, mushrooms, onions, etc. More salad and kimchi are provided when asked, although sometimes you have to ask multiple times to finally get it. The price tag was ~$24.

Full disclosure, my stomach did get sick immediately after eating this and also the following day. My dining mate didn't, however.

Blue Mesa Grill (7700 W NW Hwy, Dallas)

For $20, the Sunday all you can eat brunch was an okay choice. I have to give Blue Mesa props for the initiative to put some, but not all, of its nutritional info online.

There's a decent selection of food from enchiladas to an omelette station to taco fillings to salads and grilled fish. With the exception of the grilled fish, I found everything else to be a bit at or below average. A lot of the food is soaked in no trans-fat oil, but the oil doesn't seem to add to the dishes' flavor. The dependency should be on the spices for the flavor, not the oil.

I shouldn't forget to mention that the price includes unlimited mimosas, coffee, tea, and soft drinks. The coffee is made with a boatload of cinnamon (which I liked, but be forewarned).

Aksum
4630 Baltimore Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Neighborhood: Cedar Park

Aksum, another neighborhood joint, is a small ~12 table establishment located a couple blocks from Clark Park.  Its name is derived from the Aksumite Empire that covered Eritrea, Yemen, Saudia Arabia, and other present day countries...or at least that's what the "About Aksum" says on the menu.

I'm not a big fan of Mediterranean food as I find it rather bland compared to the more powerful spices that are infused into other cuisines like those found in Latin America and Southeast Asia.  And I don't like olives!  But, I thought I'd give this a shot as it's in the neighborhood.

The decor and atmosphere at Aksum is not "high end" but certainly much higher end than most of the other restaurants in the Cedar Park area (the only comparable restaurant in this regard is Vietnam Cafe, which is a 60 second walk away).  The prices are also adjusted accordingly.  The question I had was - are the flavors and the service worth the higher price tag? Maybe.

The rosemary grilled chicken was plated beautifully, and the chicken breast marinated in the house's rosemary sauce was super tender.  The olive pine nut tapenade that was layered on top of the chicken had a strong, bold flavor.  The garlic mashed potatoes, however, was bland and blah.  I wouldn't have known they were garlic mashed potatoes had I not been told there was garlic in them.  The grilled asparagus were grilled asparagus.

For the entire restaurant, there was only one waitress.  This seemed about right when I first walked in as the place was only at 20% capacity.  But, when it started reaching 80% capacity, the waitress definitely had more on her plate than she could handle in a timely manner.  It took 15 minutes from asking for my check to actually receiving it...and then another 5 minutes to get my credit card back. A third of an hour gone.

Aksum uses Square for credit card payments, and I was surprised when they brought out an iPad.  I thought I had won something, but they just wanted my autograph.

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Barbuzzo

110 S 13th St

Philadelphia, PA 19107

Neighborhoods: Market East, Avenue of the Arts South

I'm not a self-prescribed fan of Mediterranean food, but Barbuzzo has made a convert out of me (as MinGa had done to me for Korean food in Chapel Hill, but that's a whole other story).

Unfortunately, we both ordered exactly the same three dishes, so I'll only be able to write about a sliver of what Barbuzzo has to offer, but if the rest of the menu is anything like these three dishes, it'll definitely be on my shortlist of go-to restaurants.

We started off with the buffalo mozzarella with basil and arugula pesto - a great combination of tangy and salty.  The only minus of this plate was that the vinaigrette / pesto on my dish was not as thoroughly mixed, resulting in one bite that was super uber salty.

Second up was the pan seared gnocchi soaked in smoked corn, truffle butter, cherry tomatoes, seared trumpet mushrooms, and guanciale (Italian bacon).  Some other Yelpers mentioned that there were only a few pieces of gnocchi, but  I thought my portion was pretty generous.  I like things seared / grilled, I like truffles, I like corn, and I like bacon, so this dish definitely made my taste buds sing. Try it.

Third up was the salted caramel budino (Italian custard) - the crust was dark chocolate, layered on top with vanilla bean caramel, sea salt, and a dash of whip.  Be warn, this is tasty.  If you ever had Werther's Original Caramels candy, then imagine eating a liquid form of it.  Simply delicious.  Caveat is that eating the whole thing will give you a slight sugar rush as it is quite sweet, so slow down and get some coffee to balance it out.

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