Zorro's Big, Fat, Texas Buffet

Ever since I blogged about Zorro's Buffet, last month, my blogstats indicate that it's one of the most clicked on postings I've written. Today I found out why. My blog comes up #1 when people Google for info about Zorro's Buffet. Ahead of the actual Zorro's Buffet website.

So, this morning I got a message from someone who thought I'd "badmouthed" the place. Which I hadn't. All I said was if one were to judge the quality of the food by the quality of their website one might have cause to be cautious.

It seemed obvious to me that the person writing this was not a man and his wife out for dinner, as the writer claimed, then going to such lengths to wax poetic about the place. I figured it had to be either the owner or their ad agency or some other flak. The person suggested I try the place before passing judgement.

So, I said, give me lunch for 2 and I'll give Zorro's Buffet a try for lunch today.

I was told to tell the check-in person that I was Durango.

I took along a buffet expert, Big Ed. We got to Zorro's a bit past 1. The parking lot was pretty much full. Eventually found a place to park. Walked inside. Zorro's is huge. Walked up to the cash register, said, uh, I'm Durango. She said, we've been expecting you. She handed me a drinking glass and a knife and fork wrapped in a paper towel and told me to sit anywhere.

Found a seat, then found the buffet. Zorro's buffet is huge. The first thing I noticed, that I really liked, is Zorro's addressed my #1 buffet pet peeve. That being having to touch all those serving utensils that others have already touched. Usually they're sticky. I always find a napkin to use as a sort of glove. Sometimes it can be difficult to locate a napkin. But Zorro's has napkin dispensers at each buffet table. This should be a universal practice.

Today was Seafood Day. I tried a crab cake, but there was way too much cake and not enough crab. The grilled shrimp were very good, as was the salmon. The fried fish was catfish. Yuck. BBQ baby back ribs were smoky and meaty. The Zorro's grilled chicken was well done, like I like it.

The salads were all good, for the most part. The carrot salad would have been perfect, but there were those little type marshmallows in it. I don't care for that. There were 2 types of cole slaw, both good, a wilted spinach salad, that I liked. And several others I didn't try. The potato salad was not your usual buffet type, with too much mayo. It was made with red spuds with the skins on. Zorro's makes very good potato salad.

One thing that was a good thing, is every time I went back to the buffet there'd be something new. Like one new thing was a mixed seafood noodle dish, with clams in the shell lining the edges and lots of little shrimp in the sauce. It was nice and garlicky.

That's another thing. Most buffets, of the type that try and appeal to the masses, shy away from adventurous seasoning. Zorro's does not shy away. Some were quite adventurous, like a pasta salad that I thought was tossed with some sort of greenish pesto sauce, but instead the green turned out to be from cilantro. That was quite tasty.

I'm not a dessert eater, but there were quite a few dessert choices, including hard ice cream. I did have a dish of flan. It was very good.

So, is Zorro's Buffet the best buffet I've ever been to? No. Is it better than Golden Corral? Oh, by a long shot. Would I go again? Yes. But not anytime soon. And how did Big Ed like it? Well, you'd have to go all the way back to 1995 and the Luxor Buffet in Vegas, when Big Ed so overstuffed himself that sweat balls were popping out of his forehead, after which Lulu's first husband decided we were all Buffet Sluts. The name stuck.