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april, 2001 |
eating for good There are places where you should eat. And then there are places where you need to eat. California Fresh Buffet is Winston-Salem's new required place of dining--not just for your sake, but for a lot of other people's. If Winston-Salem isn't your next dinner-focused vacation destination, it should be. When I returned to town last year, my friends caught me up on some of the changes that had taken place during my absence. The I-40 Hawthorne Curve was now straight. The Morning Dew was under new ownership. And there is a healthy new restaurant being run almost entirely by volunteers. Wha...? In 1998, an organization called the Human Service Alliance bought the old Red Lobster building on Peters Creek Parkway to create a laboratory of sorts. There are several schools in our area--Wake Forest University, Salem College--and now there's another one. It's the University for Human Goodness , and California Fresh Buffet is where their training in human relations takes place. Yeah, I thought someone was kidding, too. Then I went to the restaurant. Upon walking into CFB, you immediately notice that this isn't your typical dining-out experience. At the entry-way is a sign that briefly describes where your money goes, the people who are serving you, and who benefits from your night out. The walls in the entry way are tastefully covered with some of the national press that CFB has received in the past few years, and art pieces that are for sale if you're interested. You make your way to the cash register and pre-pay--eight bucks for all-you-can-eat dinner, and six for lunch. It includes your drink. Trust me when I say that this is ABSOLUTELY the best deal in town. A friendly (as in smiling, non-surly, happy-to-be-there) host walks you to your table while explaining CFB protocol. They're happy to have you there. Eat all you like, but please don't waste food so they can keep down prices. Tips are appreciated, as they are pooled to pay the 20 percent of paid restaurant staff (which makes excellent sense--after all, every restaurant needs real restaurant management, right?). There are two conventional salad bars, one huge prepared-salads bar, one "themed" bar of hot food (Mexican, Indian, etc.), one bar of yummy American fare (real mashed potatoes, casseroles), some baked goods, and a dessert bar that will cause you to make weird cavegirl noises and dribble on your chin. Um, like the other tall redhead who kept hanging out by the pie. Yeah, her. Here's the kicker with California Fresh Buffet, though--nearly everything you're eating is really good, whole food. This a (thankfully) far cry from Golden Corral. There are few, if any, processed foods. Almost all of them are freshly-prepared that day, from the dairy- and sugar-free apple pie (worth writing home about), to the dee-lish Outer Banks black bean casserole. The last time we ate there, we overheard one couple discussing how their doctor recommended that they eat here on their dine-out days. We can't say we blame them. There's definitely something to be said for a mindful evening out.
California Fresh Buffet |