What I’m Reading
Dec
7
For roughly five years now I have been trying to get someone (anyone!) to agree to go to the Old Country Buffet with me. Even though I know that the end result will inevitably leave me either lying in a puddle of my own cold sweat on the bathroom floor or just noticeably heavier, it needs to happen. My requests to try this bastion of haute cuisine started off as a joke but quickly escalated into pleading. At this point it is the principle of the thing; no matter how many people tell me it is revolting, that they are in fact doing me a favor by not going with me, I have an insane need to make my own informed judgment. That only seems right!
It may also be a little bit of a pride issue, the fact that I cannot coerce anyone through sheer willpower to do my bidding. But really, it’s mostly about being able to join the proud ranks of people that can say with utter certainty, “Old Country Buffet is disgusting and I will never, ever go there no matter how often someone asks me!”
When I demanded that my friend Laura go with me she asked, “What part of the name Old Country Buffet makes you think you want to go there? Old? No. Country? No! Buffet? NO!!” Denied once again by the wise and implacable Laura.
When I met the new New Boy (blog name still to be determined- help a sister out here, people!) I explained my plight to him. Just like all the others, he laughed off my situation and tried to make me see reason. Clearly he did not want to be held responsible for giving his new gal a bout of food poisoning, but when the subject came up a second time he just said, “Oh, lady. If you really want to go, I’ll take you.”
And just like that, my intense need to see those giant vats of gravy for myself vanished, and my esteem for the new New Boy went up one more notch. He has set the bar pretty high for himself, that one. And he didn’t even need to ingest a plate full of lard and collard greens to do it.
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24 Responses to “More Fried Okra For Everyone Else, I Guess”
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I’ve been to OCB a few times. It’s not that bad. The salad bar is pretty good.
But yeah, that’s pretty awesome of him.
This new New Boy sounds like a keeper, for real. I’m very pleased about this.
I am sure the old Padre will go with you. He will eat anything and everything….and give a raving review. He wants the Phantom Gourmet dinner gift card for xmas….its good at 150 restaurants between here and boston.
I do like fried okra, but NO to any place that people can just put their germs into the food like that. GROSS!
Yeah… I would not have gone with you. Buffet places are against my principles because I can cook my own food and serve it to myself AT HOME. I am paying for SERVICE, people!
I can’t say I have a burning desire to go to OCB, but in general I am pro-buffet. It makes me sad that I never went to Vegas during the era of All You Can Eat For $3.99.
OK, you have NEVER BEEN THERE?? How have your parents never decided that’s a perfectly valid place for dinner? How did no friends in college ever decide to head over there for a gluttonous brunch after a night out? Clearly your friends and family are way classier than mine. Or maybe tolerance for (even appreciation, in some circles) OCB is a Midwestern thing. Lord help us.
I think you should go if not for the food but for the amusing experience of it. And also for the ego boost. I can guarantee that any time you step into an Old Country Buffet, you will be among the top five thinnest and most attractive people in the building. (Then again, that probably happens to you in ANY building, so never mind, perhaps.)
I would never set foot in that place for lunch or dinner, but I wouldn’t be wholly opposed to going there for breakfast. What’s the difference? I don’t know.
Oh, I think I like this new New Boy…
Buffets usually aren’t my thing but I make an exception for OCB. Mostly it’s for their dessert area. I won’t lie.
I’ve been to OCB once. I didn’t hate it, but I’ve also never been back. My point? I have no point really.
Count me in the seriously anti-OCB camp, I’ve been there enough to know how much I don’t like it. But I’ll admit, watching my g. gma in those places was the best. Since she grew up in the depression she was always sticking rolls in her purse and loading up her place so high it almost toppled over. For a barely 90lb woman it was a sight to be seen.
I feel you. There is a place in Austin called “Luby’s Cafe” that everyone swears will give me diphtheria. Or typhoid fever. It’s the CHALLENGE that makes the place so exciting. So take some Purel and a barf bag and go to town!
Oh, I HATE it when I can’t convince people to do my bidding, so I feel you. But then again, I hate fried okra, so I can’t condone going the Old Country Buffet either.
New name for the New Boy … ummm … the OCB Enabler? Nah, that’s stupid. Will work on it.
Oh honey, come south where there is every variation on the Old Country Buffet that you can imagine. You won’t have a hard time finding someone to go with you, either.
Thumbs up to the new fella (I’m plum out of ideas for blognames, but I’m sure something will come to you over time)
The Modern Gal is correct. There are many, many versions of the Old Country Buffet in Oklahoma. Used to go to quite a few of them with my grandparents.
Stef, when I want that thin, attractive feeling, I just go to Wal-Mart.
That place was the shaz when I was 11 years old. There are still situations where a buffet can be justified, but they all involve near-starvation and/or extreme poverty.
Or just plain old curiosity. Go there. Enjoy it. Have some pudding.
If you were in the South, I bet you’d have to beat friends off with sticks to keep them from trying to accompany you. I’d go check it out, but I’m not much of a country food/buffet lover. But trying interesting places is always fun.
Yay for the new boy being adventurous!
New Boy = Current Squeeze (or CS)
New Boy = Bloy (Blog Boy)
Go to OCB. Once. For most people that is all you’ll need.
does he have facial hair? because then he could be Le Moustache
I like New Boy already!
Also, I don’t have a fine palate. I will eat crap food like mac and cheese, fried chicken, etc. I have no shame. Buffets can be good!
But I have been to Old Country Buffet only once. It was nastier than I could have ever imagined. And they screwed up mac and cheese.
Never again.
Anyone who will sign up for severe gastric distress just to make you happy is a keeper in my book.
Where the hell is there even an Old Country Buffet around here, anyway?? I feel like I only just heard of it earlier this year. Maybe even while I was in Minnesota.
My dad freaking loves that place.