Midtown Lunch

The 4 Seasons Food Court was a place I passed by a million times but never went it. I think I was just confused by the name, but there is no relation to the fancy hotel. When I finally realized it was a decent by the pound buffet  type place, I made it there for an early lunch. Buffets are always better when the first open. Its safe to say the quality decreases as hungry locals file in each hour. Get in before noon and you are golden.

4 Seasons holds a fairly long buffet table with some decent options. I do take buffet strategy seriously. First, a once over to check out the selection. Then cold items placed first, to keep the hot stuff warm. No filler, like rice or potato. I favor the cheesy, the fried, and the protein. I also like taking just a little bit of many things because my taste buds smile at variety.

Fruit came first, worth it because fruit is not cheap. Then in the top right: spinach lasagna, which was more like a cheesy creamed spinach, along side broccoli, cheese, noodles. On the bottom, from left to right: seafood pancake, fried pork, fried shrimp, General Tso’s chicken, a clam (shell removed), fried chicken, and cold honey mustard chicken. Yup, there were steamed clams on a buffet table and I ate one and lived to tell about it.  It wasn’t even bad. I liked the shrimp and the honey mustard chicken most. My fried chicken piece was too small, and was therefore mostly breading,  but good breading at least. Fruit (blueberry, strawberry, mango) was fresh, good for dessert.

A pound is about $7.50; I didn’t get a ton of food, so my plate was just $5. You can probably save a few cents forgoing takeout and using the container without the lid. Upstairs is seating, where you can enjoy the bright green walls and the shelf with large teddy bears by a big window that overlooks Chestnut Street.