At patrons’ behest, casino buffets add healthier fare

Here's a question that could spur lots of debate: Is anyone who goes to a buffet really looking for healthful choices?

The pro: "Of course they are, and we definitely accommodate a lot of that," said Michael Demers, executive chef of M Resort.

The con: "When people come to a buffet, I just don't think that they're looking to eat all that healthy," said Phil Bonanno, executive chef at The Orleans.

Then again, Bonanno added, "if you're going there just to meet some friends, and you want to watch yourself, there's definitely options."

Steve Zappacosta, corporate director of food and beverage operations for Station Casinos, said the company's customer feedback has signaled for a couple of years that people want more healthful buffet food. In January 2010, the company introduced its Healthier Eating feature menu to its Festival and Fiesta buffets at all 10 properties.

"All of those items have stayed on ever since - that's how positive the feedback was," Zappacosta said. "Every station has some healthier options."

Lately, he said, the company has been hearing from customers who are saying, "I don't just want healthier options, I want healthier food." And so, starting with the fall menu, which launches Oct. 1 (the menus change four times a year), there's a focus also on food prepared in a more healthful way - an example being grilled rosemary chicken with caramelized onions.

"These are all things that taste great to begin with, so you don't have to add a lot of salt, you don't need to add a lot of oil to them, and you really come out with some great food," he said.

It helps, Zappacosta said, if you have a plan.

"Start with your vegetables," he said. "If half your plate is vegetables (which is in keeping with the federal government's most current nutritional plan, MyPlate), you know you're starting off right."

He said Station chefs have worked to make vegetables more interesting, introducing such dishes as cilantro and tomatoes or stir-fried vegetables, "So you're not just saying, 'I'll take the steamed broccoli.' "

Even the company's breakfast buffets have a good variety of vegetables.

"I am definitely the omelet-and-hash-brown guy," Zappacosta said, "but I've made a point now to always make sure I pick up some veggies along the way."

Cholesterol-free eggs and egg whites are available at all omelet stations, he added.

Keeping portions small enables you to pick and choose more, Zappacosta noted.

And desserts have been downsized, he said. "Instead of having a huge piece of chocolate cake, you can have a variety."

Jeff Braun, executive chef of The Mirage, said healthier choices on its Cravings buffet are multiplying.

"Certainly, we're trending to get healthier items in there and have choices for people who can make a conscious decision to eat healthy and still get a variety of things," he said.

Those include quinoa salad, barley salad, an extensive vegetable station and a grilled, steamed or baked fish option.

"Throughout the buffet, we're conscious of balance," Braun said. "How much do we have out there that's kind of decadent, and how do we balance it?" If they use a cream sauce on one dish, he said, they'll balance that with a light treatment of another, and maybe balance a cream soup with a miso.

The new Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace has vegetarian and vegan options, which are by definition usually healthful, as well as gluten-free items.

"Our salad station is very, very healthy, obviously," said Scott Green, executive chef. "We have low-fat and soy dressings, an array of Asian salads that are noodles and light dressings."

And they have a section of no-sugar-added desserts.

Light breakfast offerings, he said, include yogurts, granolas, mueslis and egg-white omelets.

At M resort, Demers said the Studio B buffet has a lot of lighter offerings among its nearly 200 items. An example is miso soup, a more healthful alternative to cream-based soups. There also are several light, vinaigrette-dressed salads, he added.

"Those can be anything from a glass-noodle salad to an Asian shrimp salad with pineapple and cabbage and small shrimp," Demers said. "Or Thai-marinated cucumber salad, which is very light."

The Mediterranean station offers baba ghanoush and hummus, both made in-house, as well as Greek mushrooms in a light vinaigrette and Greek salad that can be ordered without feta.

At breakfast, he said, egg-white omelets are an option, with "a whole bunch of different vegetables." Plus there's an array of sliced fruits, fruit salad, fat-free yogurt, granola, dried fruits and yogurt parfaits.

Demers said the resort likes to change the buffet menu every four months, and customers have asked for whole-wheat pasta and fat-free salad dressings.

At The Orleans' French Market Buffet, Bonanno said the "huge" array provides a lot of choices.

"For breakfast, if you're looking to eat healthy, there are oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, grits, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, multigrain waffles," Bonanno said. "There's always fresh fruit - on the rind as well as fresh fruit compote, not canned."

Plus, he said, yogurt and cottage cheese and bran muffins and no-sugar-added frozen yogurt, sorbet and gelato.

"During lunch, there's always vegetable lasagna," he said. "There are fresh vegetables all over the buffet."

Carved roasted turkey, rotisserie chicken and a variety of salads are other options, he said.

"Occasionally, we run brown rice, spinach fettuccine - stuff like that," Bonanno said, "but sometimes they're tough sells."

Demers agreed that buffet customers seem to want to mix it up.

"When you see the guests and what they're taking on their plate, they're taking a little bit of everything."

Braun said he thought the topic of healthful choices at buffets was "kind of funny."

"In Las Vegas, people are willing to splurge, or eat a little bit more," he said. "And then there are those people who are trying to 'beat us.' "

Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at
hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474.