A decade ago the city’s dining landscape was littered with all-you-can-eat places. Usually couched as buffets, they allowed patrons to line up and pass by a dozen or more heated tubs, piling their plates with food to teetering heights, after which they’d seek out a table and begin shoveling. Then they’d do the same thing again.
But COVID threw a wrench in the AYCE system. Buffets, even with sneeze guards, were deemed unsanitary. South Asian restaurants especially suffered, and famous establishments like Jackson Diner, Utsav, and Haandi dismantled their luscious displays of food.
Now the old buffets are returning, joined by Korean barbecue restaurants that offer unlimited servings of cook-it-yourself meats; Chinese hot pots that renew your supply of broth; and Brazilian churrascarias, where you grab gauchos as they pass with skewers of charcoal-grilled meats until you can eat no more.
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