SUMMING IT UP
• The success of any buffet is in the planning and set-up of the event, to ensure proper flow.• Food prep needs to be completed shortly before the event begins. • Buffets can be the perfect venue to showcase a property’s food and service. |
Buffets-with mouth-watering selections of breads, salads, entrees, side dishes and desserts-boast a flexible format that suits an almost infinite variety of service applications.
A chef or catering manager who designs a buffet of food is not unlike an architect designing a building. He or she will want to create visual interest with stunning and delicious food—but at the same time, the result must be functional.
“The success of any buffet is in the planning and set-up of the event, to ensure proper flow,” says Michael Carrigan, Executive Chef at Las Vegas Country Club. “Buffets fail when they feel or look like a cafeteria line.”
Beating the Competition
The typical Las Vegas buffet is known for quantity, not quality. But the buffets at Las Vegas CC have both. They include freshly tossed pastas and sushi, as well as some unexpected offerings like a single-serve spoon of cucumber, and smoked salmon mousse alongside an eight-foot-long, towering, bite-sized dessert buffet.
“We have just over 600 members,” says Sarah Martini Ricci, Director of Catering. “We don’t have a space that can seat that many people, so we like to use buffets as a way to bring our members to the club for a culinary event that can handle that much capacity. We also like to serve in smaller portions, so members can try a little bit of everything.”
The design aesthetic favored by Ricci and Carrigan centers around simplicity, while the focus remains on the food. They’ll opt for a simple, beautiful bowl of lemons or limes as a centerpiece, avoiding props that are overly gimmicky or tacky.
Because seafood items deteriorate quickly, Deer Valley swaps out dishes no later than every fifteen minutes, to ensure quality and freshness. |
“When you’re setting up the buffet, think functional and stylish,” says Ricci. “Where are the plates? Where are the utensils? If your guests hold a plate in their lap or as they walk through the club, you can’t serve something that requires a knife and fork. It needs to be fun, yet practical.”
“At the same time, members eat with their eyes first,” Carrigan adds. “So if the buffet looks cheap and sparse, they might attribute those same qualities to the food.”
The Las Vegas CC team likes to use risers and a combination of platters, bowls and dishes to give the display some visual interest, with props that are simple and relevant to the food being served. Ricci also suggests increasing dish change-out frequency, to keep the food looking and tasting as good as the display. And, he stresses, the line should be kept clean and neat.
A Buffet of Tips, Tricks, and Ideas
“Let the food sell itself.” “A cleaner look is in.” “Artfully use height and |
“To do this, it’s important to establish a means of communication between the front and back of the house,” he adds. “At our club, the front staff will text the cooks in the back to let them know which dishes are moving and which aren’t, and what needs to be replenished. They will also wipe down counters, replace serving spoons, and answer members’ questions about ingredients.”
Dare to Pair
Action stations have long been part of buffets’ appeal. After all, creativity and food quality go hand-in-hand, and these stations can be adapted to include nearly any food item on a menu. New developments in equipment, such as the induction burner, have further expanded the possibilities for foods that can be featured this way.
“Grazing stations” for appetizers and desserts work well and are a little more forgiving, because everyone doesn’t go to the same spot at the same time. |
“Guests enjoy these stations because they see them as a custom experience, with foods made, sliced, or presented to their order as they watch,” says Robert Meitzer, Executive Chef at Red Rocks Country Club in Morrison, Colo.
“The types of dishes served through action stations should be selected carefully and thoughtfully, though,” Meitzer adds. “[Stations] should add something more than simply another menu item.”
At Red Rocks CC, Meitzer likes to transform ice sculptures at action stations into serving pieces like shot glasses, platters or even spaces where chefs can work. “The food becomes part of the entertainment,” he says.
In January, Red Rocks will host a winter luau with featured cocktails that match certain dishes on the buffet. The cocktails will be pre-made by the club (which will help with inventory control). At the buffet, the drinks will be poured down a tropical tree made of ice, and flow into a glass for each member to enjoy.
“Pairing cocktails to food is a new trend,” says Meitzer. “With wine pairings, you’re stuck because the flavors are unchallengeable. Cocktails, on the other hand, can be invented and tweaked to match perfectly with a dish.”
For the luau, Meitzer will also tap into the local culinary scene by inviting a sushi chef from a nearby restaurant to prepare tuna poke (pronounced POH-kay) at a live demonstration station. “A lot of our members dine at his restaurant, and the tuna poke is his specialty,” Meitzer says.
Another benefit of the action-station concept, Meitzer adds, is the ability to control portion size. “By having our cooks portion higher-cost food items, like proteins, in an attractive way at a carving station, the members are less apt to take more than one piece,” he notes. “At the same time, it’s a good way to create interaction between members and the staff.”
When Small is Huge
Choosing the right foods for a buffet should be a top concern, says Matt Fife, Executive Chef at The Union Club in Cleveland. Making sure the buffet looks as plentiful for the last person as it did for the first is equally as important.
“Buffets require more food preparation than a traditional plated meal,” he says. “And in a lot of cases, there is little or no portion control.
“At the same time, you don’t want the last few guests going through the line knowing that they are the last people going through the line,” Fife adds. “This requires a replenishment of food that will probably end up going to waste, unless you can use it in another dish like a soup, or as an employee meal.”
Of late, small plates are transforming the way Fife designs buffets at The Union Club. More than appetizers but less than a full-on entree, these two- or three-bite dishes give the club more control over presentation.
And small plates are another good way to “ensure that the first and last person see the food the same way,” Fife notes.
Through this approach, spoonfuls of lump crab in shot glasses become stylish little side dishes. “Shots” of soup transform favorite fall classics into delicious, utensil-free sips. Mini-bites of cake with whipped cream and a dollop of chocolate sauce offer just enough decadence.
Beyond offering a smattering of samples, buffets also give a host the option of putting more upscale foods on the menu along with known favorites, to give diners the opportunity to try something without having to make an entire meal out of it.
To design a buffet flow that works, put yourself in the guests’ shoes. |
“Dishes that work best are ones that are not as temperature-sensitive,” says Fife, who works with members to determine their food preparation preferences and to find out if they want any specific cooking techniques or ingredients incorporated into the buffet.
Seafood and Snow
Serving gourmet fare at a ski resort was a fairly novel concept when Deer Valley Resort opened in Park City, Utah in 1981. At that time, the resort’s founders wanted to create a ski area where amenities, services and cuisine mirrored those of the finest resorts in the world.
Nearly three decades later, Deer Valley has stayed true to its mission. The resort has 10 on-mountain restaurants, including its famed Seafood Buffet, which offers everything from Dungeness crab to freshly shucked oysters and a vast selection of entrées such as sablefish, roast duck, yellowfin tuna and creative pastas, potatoes and vegetables.
“With Deer Valley being very service-oriented, we ensure that all of our hot lines at the seafood buffet are chef-attended,” says Jodi Rogers, Executive Chef. This setup, she adds, also allows the Deer Valley staff to have a closer relationship with guests and talk face-to-face about the food’s preparation.
“We pride ourselves on creating a way to serve any dish out there,” says Rogers. “We brainstorm about better-quality ingredients that will last longer; but we also believe in cooking in batches, to have continued freshness from beginning to end.”
Glazed items like the honey soy-glazed salmon or the BBQ baby back ribs hold in the moisture better than foods that easily overcook, like basmati and jasmine rices and meats that can become tough over time.
To keep food from drying out, Rogers likes to use a variety of “beds,” such as toasted peanuts under chicken skewers.
“We are always thinking ahead with prep and ordering the freshest foods we can find,” she says. “We are ready for unexpected changes, and we keep recipes simple and flavorful.”
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