Hello and welcome to my latest blog, “Buffet Hopping in Las Vegas”!(I am also the author of the blog “Mastering the Art of Singing” on my YouTube channel @singermanusa5751.
My name is Jack McCoy. My love for buffets began when I was a boy about 10 years old. Growing up in the rural areas of Washington State it was a rare treat to make the long journey into the big city. It was on one of those adventures when my parents stopped for a bite to eat at Earl Kelly’s in the St. John’s area of #Portland #Oregon. A large statue of Paul Bunyan stood nearby, a long forgotten symbol of the American Loggers who once thrived in the Northwest. Just trying to get my mind around the concept of “All You Can Eat”, was mind boggling to me! As I stared at a huge serving dish of Cottage Cheese I knew I could be happy just trying to put that whole thing away! And here was all this food; meats, cooked vegetables and salads, all for me!
So here I am now living in the buffet Capital of the World called #LasVegas! It used to be all there was to do in this town was eat, drink and gamble so casino’s quickly adapted the idea of free or low cost buffets because they offered a wide variety of food items to keep people from getting in their cars and driving to the next casino. But now Vegas has evolved into a pedestrian access town so bringing the biggest and best of everything is the norm and now the major casino buffets are among the best in the world!
I started writing restaurant reviews for a tabloid called The Senior Scene in Vancouver Washington, not B.C., back in the mid eighties. At that time the restaurants I reviewed advertised in the paper and they knew I was reviewing them so they always put their best foot forward. One time I brought several of my family members to a local Chinese establishment expecting that only I would get my meal comped, and as an added bonus, I’d get the added benefit of input from of all the variety of dishes the rest of my group selected. But to my surprise, without us even ordering, the owner started parading what seemed like everything on the menu to our table! Yes it was great and we really pigged out but I also felt a bit overwhelmed! How was I going to give any kind of critique in the face of such an out pouring of generosity? Anyhow no chance of that happening now! No one knows who I am and I’m paying for the meal. Me and my lady friend Lila have entirely different tastes in food so together we pretty much cover all the food groups. So stay tuned because you will see in upcoming videos of me and Lila enjoying some of our favorite buffets and restaurants here in Vegas.
