Uneasy Rhetoric

Downtown Déjeuner:

Bud’s Buffet ***

1016 10th St

$7-$8

Comfort food. Throwback. Bud’s buffet is a lot of both. It feels like a cafeteria with rows of long tables that fill up around the lunch hour. You grab a tray, place your order, and they hand you a plate which, if you order a non-sandwich special, might just be overflowing with food.

The dining room is a no-frills eat-and-run kind of environment that looks like it stepped out of the 1970s. For all I know it’s been here that long. If the place hadn’t been so busy (and if I hadn’t made a promise to eat at all of the places in my area), I might have passed it over as just a little too seedy, which it isn’t.

Bud’s sandwiches are as good as anyone’s and nothing particularly special, except that they don’t skimp on meat. I ate a salami sandwich that was screaming “heartburn!” before it even made its way into my mouth. That’s a lot of salami. When you order the roast beef sandwich they’ll put as much horseradish on it as you ask for.

But Bud’s real strength lies in its specials. These are hearty, home-style dishes, heavy on the “just like mama used to make”: beef stew, lasagna, roast beef and potatoes, spaghetti and meatballs. My spaghetti came with three huge meatballs and a pungent, spicy tomato sauce; the pasta was a big soggy, but otherwise this was a superior dish and plenty of food. The roast beef and potatoes is a hearty helping of meat sliced from the same roast they use to make sandwiches, served with fluffy (dare I say reconstituted?) mashed potatoes, and smothered in gravy. “Smothered” isn’t an exaggeration.

This food makes me feel good. The only thing missing is a side dish. As I was shoveling beef and potatoes into my mouth at a dangerous rate I realized that I really wanted some green beans. Even soggy from a can would have been enough to make the meal just a little extra…something. Even the spaghetti would have benefited from some soggy green beans.

If I were meeting an old fart for lunch, I might consider taking him here. Three stars for comfort food served fast but a lack of sides that you don’t have to pay for. They may just deserve another half-star, but I can’t decide.