Yum's buffet offers diners an all-you-can-eat good deal

Around town

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES Co-owners of Yum's Grand Buffet, Jasmine Huang, left, and Stephen Cheng show off a plate of Alaskan crab legs. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Alaskan crab legs. Click here to enlarge this photo Salt and pepper crabs.

According to the Chinese zodiac calendar, 2009 is the year of the cow. In dining, 2009 is the year of the Chinese buffet.

This is the year we opened the menu and went straight to the items placed beside single digits. It is the year we were forced to cut back and were not particularly happy about it. We sought out places, then, that would provide us with a little respite from the gloom.

An island location in Pinefield Shopping Center, across from a dollar store and Lefty's Barbecue, Yum's Grand Buffet has a clean, carpeted dining hall that features a chandelier and red electric lights above six stations of food.

All-you-can-eat lunch is $7.50. Dinner is $11.99. Children younger than $11 can eat for $5.45 or $6.99, and senior citizens receive an additional 10 percent lopped off the bottom line. (Carryout is available; the food is priced by the pound.)

The buffet here has more than 100 items. If you think they might have it, they probably do, whether it's crawfish or stuffed crabs or wontons filled with cream cheese. Frankly, I'm not one to spend my calories on the American foods (the fried bananas, the pizza) or much of the seafood (the stuffed shrimp, the seafood delight), though the dinner spread is said to include fresh fish.

Still, after starting with a plate of sticky, white rice, I found plenty of yummy, well-prepared dishes to combine it with, like any kind of chicken, pepper steak and Shanghai bok choy (snow cabbage). Start off with hot and sour soup; try kimchi and sushi from the salad bar; wind down with a plate of fruit.

Yum's is under new management, and co-owner Stephen Cheng said on the phone that he is in the process of hiring an Italian chef. In coming weeks, too, the deal is going to get even better: Bring a friend, he said, and the friend will eat for free.

Yum's Grand Buffet

2056 Crain Highway, Waldorf

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday

Entrée prices: $4-$13

Credit cards: V, MC

Carryout: 301-638-7328