Wilson’s Fabulous Buffet: Mark Designs His Fantasy Buffet

If you've ever been out for a meal, you've seen buffets. They are everywhere. One of my required tasks at the Pizza Hut I worked at during my high school years was to stock the salad bar. Why anybody in their right mind would eat gross things like three-bean salad or beets is beyond me. But that's why I'm going to make my very own "Wilsonized" buffet. And I'm going to just take the best of other place's buffets.

Wilson's Fabulous Buffet starts with a great big twenty-pound block of sharp cheddar cheese just like the old Bonanza Buffets used to have.

We gotta have a salad. So, I'll have to mix my own lettuce with shredded carrots, chopped bits of celery, chopped red onion, and the thousand island dressing, like they have at the 4B's restaurants. Then add huge garlic croutons.

Since I can't really narrow it down to my favorite fried chicken, I'll have three. Cajun wings from Tiny's Tavern, Pizza Ranch's chicken, and Double Front chicken from Missoula.

Your next bins feature fresh corn on the cob next to the melted butter bin, then my mom's baked beans, Grandma Jane's orange Jello carrot salad, and two bins of garlic cheddar mashed potatoes, and of course a bin of gravy.

I'm not a huge dessert guy but every buffet needs deserts so I'll have the old Rex's chocolate whipped cream pie with a graham cracker crust, crème brulee like the one at the Rib & Chop House, and chocolate chip ice cream.

What did I miss and who else has got buffet items in Billings that I need to know about?