The Golden Corral

This is going to be a very short entry. I've been teasing the wife for a couple of years, each time we pass The Golden Corral near the local Wal-Mart. She constantly offers the rejoinder "we're too young for the Golden Corral". How would she know - she's never been to one, to my knowledge.

A few days ago, we were out shopping. She had seen an ad in the paper showing a cute dress at a store called "Ross - Dress for Less". She saw nothing at all like what was advertised (maybe they had three or four and they were all gone by the time we showed up), and she commented "boy, that place makes Marshall's look high-end". So, we were headed home and I was hungry. Over her objection, I pulled into the Golden Corral - saying "hey, I'll try anything once". Big mistake.

When we walked in, first thing we encountered was the cashier. My wife said "what, no waiters and no menu?". OK, I reminded her we ate often at the Chinese buffet, and paid the cashier $15.10 for "2 SR Lunch Buffet". With tax, $16.09 - I've spent more than that on a bagel and coffee in New York City back in the working days. My dear wife was clearly not happy, and when Momma ain't happy, NOBODY is happy. I took a diet Pepsi - she claimed only a glass of water. She watched me spread out and check out the fare, but she stuck with only some salad, and a LOT of commentary. "Look - the egg salad has been out too long" "Look, they're pouring fresh salad on top of the old stuff - they should be taking the old stuff back to the kitchen first". I commented "why, so they could mix the old with the new?" Oops - that drew a look that could kill.

Anyway, she ate very little - I had some popcorn shrimp with cocktail sauce, some Mongolian beef, a taco, a heaping tostada with lots of greasy ground beef, a hush puppy, rice with corn, half a brownie, ice cream cone, and two diet Pepsi's.

It was in a word, unremarkable. The look on her face was priceless. I think she'll start talking to me again within a week.

Oh, while the place had a number of older Americans, there was also a healthy mix of working class folk enjoying that unique American "all you can eat" cuisine. Many of them probably got their clothes at Ross - Dress for Less or Marshall's. We left, got into the Corvette and drove back to the island counting our blessings all the way.