Grand Buffet

FOOD

Peanut-butter chicken is a particular reason to look beyond the usual first choices at Grand Buffet. The dish brings a rich, nutty preparation into the Chinese-American lunch, with the familiar flavor of peanut butter attached to a savory chicken dish. Rice is a natural accompaniment when you want some of that richness alongside the meat. If you enjoy the savory side of peanut butter, this is the preparation to look for.

Hibachi chicken provides another poultry preparation in the lunch selection. It belongs to the prepared hot selection, alongside the buffet’s other chicken dishes. Coated fried chicken wings also appear among the hot foods, bringing bone-in pieces to the selection. Between the peanut-butter chicken, hibachi chicken and wings, the chicken choices take several forms rather than depending on one sauce.

Stuffed mushrooms deserve some attention among the smaller savory foods. Whole caps carry a pale golden filling, giving each mushroom a substantial center. The mushrooms bring their own earthy character to the preparation, while the filling makes them more than a plain vegetable accompaniment. They are a useful choice for someone who likes mushrooms as part of the meal, alongside the richer chicken dishes.

Crab Rangoon brings the usual Chinese-American combination of a creamy filling enclosed in a fried wonton wrapper. The wrappers open around their centers in the appetizer selection, a recognizable Chinese-American buffet favorite. These are small savory foods to enjoy with the larger hot dishes, and the Rangoon has attracted particular enthusiasm here. A few wontons and a stuffed mushroom make an agreeable appetizer combination without requiring a separate order.

Rice accompanies the sauced dishes, and thin noodles also belong to the hot selection. They give the chicken preparations a familiar accompaniment, with the noodles offering a substantial dish of their own. A little peanut-butter chicken with rice is one way to give that richer preparation some space in the meal, while the noodles fit naturally beside the fried appetizers.

Sushi adds a smaller cold-food element. Rice-outside rolls are part of the assortment, with seaweed enclosing the filling beneath the rice. The selection is limited and changes through service, so it is best approached as one part of a Chinese-American buffet lunch. It can add a few rolls to a meal whose main variety comes from the hot dishes, rather than serving as the basis for an extensive sushi dinner.

Banana pudding is among the desserts, bringing a familiar American sweet into the Chinese-American meal. Its creamy banana character gives lunch a different kind of closing course from the fried appetizers and sauced chicken. Fortune cookies are also available, but the pudding is the more substantial dessert to know about here.