Roast beef, ham, and turkey are available with gravies and au jus. That’s not to say that the classics are ignored. Billboard star, chef Terrence Ward, supervises the food and greets guests. Across the room, there’s a Mongolian barbecue grill, and in between is food representing much more than just the standard fare.

There’s a tandoori oven baking na’an and turning out wonderful meats. The Gold Strike’s director of cuisine, Chef Andrew Smith, has a much broader vision of modern American food. But that’s not all that Buffet Americana is about. When you hear Americana in the context of food, your mind tends to jump straight to American icon foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, fried chicken, and apple pie. We were recently invited to visit Buffet Americana at the Gold Strike casino in Tunica. Their home style cooking stands up against anyone’s. Yes, they are cooking tremendous amounts of food every day, but they are doing it well. One is the Old Country Store in Jackson, Tennessee. Unfortunately, it is usually steam table upon steam table of mediocrity and mass production. Little Billy only eats chicken fingers? And little Suzy doesn’t like anything on her plate to touch? Load up little Billy with chicken fingers and get little Suzy a new plate for each item. The vast majority of buffets are simply opportunities for diners to maximize their intake. What there aren’t many of is destination buffets.

The more stars the longer the acceptable journey. That’s essentially the entire premise of the Michelin system. There are destination restaurants, restaurants worth the trip for a meal.

Menus at the gold strike casino