All-you-can-eat Good Time Country Buffet comes to – Business News
The Good Time Country Buffet, opening this Saturday within the East Village, affords a plucky throwback to all-you-can-eat feasting — a onetime staple of New York City that’s been present process a bit of a resurgence.
The new eatery comes from the restaurateurs behind hotspots Kisa and C as in Charlie, who plan to replace the comfy buffet idea with downtown cool.
“The whole concept is humble soul food, but that doesn’t mean cheap food. We are serving restaurant-level food that is fresh and tasty and completely Southern,” Good Time Hospitality’s Steve JaeWoo Choi informed Side Dish.
The Good Time Country Buffet, opening this Saturday within the East Village, affords a plucky throwback to all-you-can-eat feasting. Scott Semler
While town used to have many all-you-can-eat spots, a quantity of them had to close due to health guidelines launched during the pandemic. But current years have seen new all-you-can-eat spots like Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House, which has a number of NYC places, and Fogo de Chão’s Brooklyn outpost cater to hungry New Yorkers on a price range.
“The buffet kind of concept is much needed for the economy nowadays because everything is so expensive,” Choi stated, citing examples like $20 salads at Sweetgreen.
“I know there’s inflation and whatnot, but it’s just crazy. We want people to come in without thinking about what to get – just walk in and not be shocked by the price,” he added.
Good Time blares its discount costs on a vintage-style board you see as quickly as you enter the premises at First Avenue and tenth Street – $26.99 for dinner, with reductions for seniors and youngsters. Lunch is $19.99 for adults.
There are additionally to-go containers costing $9.99 for small and $19.99 for big.
The restaurateurs of Good Time from left, Yong Min Kim, David Yun and Steve Choi. Scott Semler
Choi and his companions David JoonWoo Yun and Yong “YK” Min Kim grew up in Atlanta, the place they observed many of the all-you-can-eat buffets had been run by Korean immigrants like themselves. Yun’s first job was as a cashier at one of them, in accordance to Choi.
He stated the trio is looking on that background to convey a “humble” menu, with choices like rib suggestions, Salisbury steak, meatballs, cornbread, mac-and-cheese and collard greens as well as to fried chicken and fried catfish. Korean fried chicken isn’t on the menu, although Choi stated there’s room for every kind of collaborations down the street.
There can also be a salad bar and dessert choices like peach cobblers, puddings and made-to-order ice-cream sundaes. And, not like buffets in Atlanta, there’s a full bar with an emphasis on frozen drinks like a Southern Georgia peach cocktail.
The “humble” menu has choices like rib suggestions, Salisbury steak, meatballs, cornbread, mac-and-cheese and collard greens as well as to fried chicken and fried catfish. Scott Semler
Good Time’s founders hope the new buffet would be the newest in a string of successes, all of which, in several methods, go back to their roots.
They opened C as in Charlie in 2022, combining tapas-style Korean and Southern small plates, together with sake pictures. Kisa, modelled on the sort of joints Korean taxi drivers frequented within the Nineteen Eighties, got here two years later.
“When we were thinking about what we should do for a third, we thought, let’s go back to Atlanta,” Choi stated.
“We have very fond memories of growing up and eating at these buffets. We would just stack up our plates and just had very enjoyable memories,” Choi stated. “So we just thought, why not?” Scott Semler
He and his companions at all times needed to open a buffet, he added.
“We have very fond memories of growing up and eating at these buffets. We would just stack up our plates and just had very enjoyable memories,” Choi stated. “So we just thought, why not?”
Authentic touches embrace wall-to-wall carpeting, a buffet staple for seniors to forestall them from slipping.
While buffets across the nation usually are not recognized for haute delicacies, Choi stated diners can count on high fare at Good Time.
Good Time blares its discount costs on a vintage-style board you see as quickly as you enter the premises. Jennifer Gould
And he’s optimistic the business model can work after having success with Kisa’s reasonably priced, restricted menu.
“We wanted to keep the prices as low as possible. But the rent is crazy,” Choi stated.
“The idea is that we’re willing to take a hit at the beginning to see if the concept works. We strongly believe that it will.”
We hear… As the US Open heats up, tennis lovers have additionally turned the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center into a foodie vacation spot. And should you really need to splurge, you may as well get there in model. Blacklane is offering a “Tennis Class” — a “curated VIP experience.” For $3,700, you get a chauffeur reserving for up to eight hours, full with a package deal of goodies for “match-day essentials,” from light-weight binoculars to a designer tote, sun shades, and Ralph Lauren cardigans.
Blacklane is offering a “Tennis Class” — a “curated VIP experience.” For $3,700, you get a chauffeur reserving for up to eight hours, full with a package deal of goodies for “match-day essentials.” Blacklane
“Tennis Class was created as an opportunity to redefine what luxury mobility can mean and to incorporate our passion for exceptional hospitality,” says Kasra Moshkani, CEO Americas for Blacklane, including that “major sporting and cultural moments should feel exciting with the experience of getting to the venue being part of the occasion itself.”
On the flip aspect, whereas tennis execs come to make their identify — and fortune — on the US Open, many gamers are on far tighter budgets than their followers. To that finish, Ainslie — recognized for its wood-fired pizzas and housemade pastas — with places at 199 Bowery and in Williamsburg at 76 Ainslee St., is offering free meals for competing US Open gamers as a method “to celebrate their dedication and hard work” to such a demanding, and costly, sport.
Ainslie — recognized for its wood-fired pizzas and housemade pastas — with places at 199 Bowery (above) and in Williamsburg, is offering free meals for competing US Open gamers as a method “to celebrate their dedication and hard work.” Courtesy of Thomas Laurance
Many of the highest 100 gamers cowl the price of competing, together with the journey, themselves.
Ainslie’s Bowery location can also be showcasing all of the US Open matches in its beer corridor and garden, the place the famed Honey Deuce cocktail can also be on the menu.
