Bright spotlights hung over the front door; one blue, one yellow and one white.  They illuminated the pavement in an attempt to lure the local customers in.

Artie flicked the switch behind the bar that switched the neon sign outside. 

Vesuvio World Buffet

An illuminated picture in the window showed the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Wall of China.  This was the standard corporate picture across all the locations.  Vesuvio’s was big business across the nation showcasing the best of food across all the continents. 

The Vesuvio Sourcing Department sourced from all over; pasta from the best suppliers in New York’s Little Italy, rice from the finest fields of China and India, rabbit from the rolling English moors, haggis from the spiky Scottish highlands and salamis from the finest delis in all of Italy.

The waitresses wait to shepherd customers to their tables and booths however from that point it is up to the customer to determine what comes next.  The only thing the waitresses are used for are drinks orders and clearing plates. 

That’s because in the centre of this restaurant is the buffet.  Five chefs are stationed in the middle of the “U” shaped serving area rapidly prepare the days offerings

Starters

Prawn cocktail

Poppadums (v)

Spring rolls

Cold meats from Italy, France and Germany

Haggis balls

Foie Gras

Main Meals

Saddle of Rabbit with Game Sauce

Spaghetti Bolognese

Haggis Neeps and Tatties

Chicken Balti

Salad (v)

Sweet and Sour Chicken/Pork

Rice/Potatoes/Chips/Salad

Dessert

Tiramisu

Butterscotch Angel Delight

Crème Brulee

Raspberry Jelly (v)

Vienetta

Cream/Ice Cream

Drinks

Beers from all over the world

Juices from all over the world

Spirits from all over the world

Waters from all over the world

Tap water

Vesuvio Detroit is now open for business, tucked away in the heart of Bricktown.  Waitresses mill about as customers go back and forwards to the delicious food. 

King Solomon just flew into Detroit and was looking for a good place to eat. He heard about Vesuvio World Buffet from a few locals. Interested, he decided to stop by. 

The restaurant was amazing. There were kind staff members and all sorts of options for food. After being sat at his table with a few of his bodyguards, King Solomon decided to order his food.

"Can I please get the Spaghetti Bolognese? And I'll take a bottle of Pinot Noir?"

King Solomon smiled at the waitress after making his order, and prepared for his meal.

The waitress looked at King_Solomon.

I'm sorry your graciousness and majesty.  This is a buffet.  I can get you a pinot noir by all means but what you do, is...

She turned and pointed to the area with all the chefs and people queuing.

...go to the serving area, grab a plate and wait in line beside the spaghetti bolognese.  Take some and come back.  If you want more, go back and get some.  If you get there and find you've changed your mind because you got buffet envy on the way up, that's ok.  Help yourself.  You'll cope.  Any questions and I'll pop back over.  I'll come back with your wine shortly.

Gordon hasn't had a day off from the crew kitchen for a week or so Artie_Bucco had been "working" on a new project and hadn't said much about it. Deciding the crew could fend for themselves for a night Gordon changes out of his chef whites and books a car with one of his entourage 

Arriving outside the venue Gordon gazes at the neon sign and dazzling lights. Stepping out of the car Gordon asks his entourage to pick him up in a few hours. Walking inside Gordon notes the shape of the kitchen and sees the chefs working hard sitting close to them so he could watch Gordon takes a look at the menu and decides everything looks amazing. 

Ordering a bottle of champagne Gordon stands up grabs a plate and starts loading it with haggis balls, cold meats, spring rolls and prawn cocktail. Nodding in appreciation to the chefs everything tastes great. Moving on to main courses rabbit with sauce and haggis neeps and tatties are piled onto a plate. followed by Tiramisu and raspberry jelly 

Gordon sits in a food coma drinking the last of the champagne  

Artie watched from his table looking out onto the serving area and watched as Gordon_Ramsay worked his way through a fine helping of food.  He twirled his fork around in his spaghetti bolognese and quickly got up to the kitchen area.

"Sweet and sour isn't selling well!  Take that off!  I want paella on the menu!"

He went to the dishes and removed the sweet and sour (not before sticking a portion of the chicken and sticky sauce on his plate).  He wiped off the sweet and sour label on the sign above and replaced it with Paella.

Svent walked into the establishment, glancing at the decorations. He hummed in approval before letting a waitress lead him to a table. "I'll just have a water to start with." He told her before he grabbed a plain and patiently made his way down the buffet line. He started of with some cold meats then picked up some Paella when it was put down to replace the sweet and our. The male nodded at Artie in greeting before getting a slice of Butterscotch Angel Delight. He then took a seat and began eating, occasionally taking a sip of water.

After a very busy day of business, Genesis decided go for a bite to eat. Along his route he stopped by Artie's Buffet. The place was lively and very colorful. After a moment he notices Artie approaching him as he takes a seat. He reads the menu and makes his decision very quickly.
.
"I have the Spaghetti Bolognese with glass of Bud"

Zeb sneaks into the back of Vesuvio and makes himself a bacon sandwich

Artie_Bucco, where do you keep the HP sauce?

Artie was eating a nutritious breakfast of tiramisu for the coffee content and some angel delight instead of cereal.  He had spilled a bit down his chin and was looking for his napkin to clean himself up a little when he spotted Svent arriving. 

It was nice to see someone with a working knowledge of how the buffet worked.  The paella seemed like a good idea.  Artie had been getting some updates about Vesuvios elsewhere and everything seemed to be going ok.  It would be time to open up a Vegas and New York branch.

Artie nodded back at Svent as he came back with some angel delight.  It did look a lot more firm than the serving that Artie currently had in his bowl.  The kitchen had obviously made a mistake with the amount of milk added.  This was going to be eating into his profits.  If this continued, Artie might have to put in a call to Gordon_Ramsay to help fix his business!

Artie was drawing on a napkin a design for Lady Liberty sandwiches in New York.  This was going to be a small sandwich cart in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty to entice the many tourists that came that way.  All he had in his head was pastramis and bagels but it wasn’t something to dwell on.  All this thinking about food was giving Artie some mid morning hunger pangs.  He glanced over at the buffet, he could see the spring rolls were just about ready to be replenished.  Nothing much beats a fresh spring roll dipped in some sweet chilli sauce he thought.

As he started walking, Genesis flagged him down like a hitchhiker trying to get a lift.

“Hello, Genesis.  Can I help you?”

Artie hoped the growls from his stomach were not off-putting.

“I have the Spaghetti Bolognese with glass of Bud?”

Artie looked down.

“Ah Genesis, come with me…”

He waited for Genesis to stand up.

“…see this bit…”

He first of all came to the section with all the starters.

“…you grab a plate, have a look around and help yourself.  Don’t worry about asking for your spaghetti Bolognese.  You might think you want it then come down here and see lots of people round the paella and think…oooh, I’ll have a little bit of that too.  Don’t limit yourself.  Eat until you’ve had enough.”

Artie grabbed himself a plate and took three spring rolls and a healthy dollop of sweet chilli sauce.

Artie sat with his spring rolls and started biting into one.  It was just a little too big to stuff in one go but not too big that the pastry was thick to support it and therefore not perfectly crunchy.  The crunch felt like it reverberated around his dome like skull and it was very satisfying.  The peace was shattered by a little commotion from the back kitchen.  He could see the chefs in the serving area looking about.

Artie walked down to see what the issue was and found ZebedeeMcZebFace standing there quite pleased with himself having made a bacon sandwich.

“Artie_Bucco, where do you keep the HP sauce?”

Artie looked around the kitchen.

“Zebedee, I am sorry to tell you that we don’t stock HP sauce in this, or any of our establishments.  We made the decision after one of our kitchen assistants told me that her family had worked at the main factory that was then shut down.  While our little protest may have little effect in reality it does allow us to demonstrate some solidarity with our employees’ families.  I can offer you Cross and Blackwell brown sauce if you would be happy with that.”

Zeb ponders this important culinary question.  While Cross and Blackwell was a passable condiment, it was certainly no HP.  Many people opt for Ketchup (Heinz, obviously) but for Zeb it was always the premium brown

Are you sure Artie? I mean, i'll settle for some daddies fruity at a push

Artie was thankful that there had been no request for tomato ketchup to go with a bacon sandwich.  In culinary school a well as the school of life and the university of common sense, bacon needed brown sauce and sausages needed ketchup.

Errr, we're not a greasy spoon or a street vendor.  We don't keep a selection of sauces for occasions like this.

Hanabi has already been to such a world buffet in Chicago; however, she only now found out that there also is one here in Detroit. So she could not help but to also want to check the place out, as, after all, she had a positive experience in Chicago. It was quite tasty, despite her general opinion that restaurants that offer too much of a variety are complete garbage as they have no specializations and therefore no excellent skills in the given cuisine.

She waits to enter the restaurant and then looks all around after sitting down on one of the tables and taking a closer look at the menu. While she did not yet want to decide on a dessert, she already decided on a starter and main dish. ''I would like to have the haggis balls and a chicken balti please'' she adds. She just wanted to get new experiences.

Listening to the debate over brown sauce and ketchup Gordon was absolutely fucking furious "Who the fuck eats this shit fucking brown sauce?"

"Egg yolks accompany bacon and sausages equally end of conversation"

Gordon gets up and leaves in a hurry 

Avocato had been in Detroit on a business trip and wanted to have lunch. Being a predator of nature, he stalked his way through the shopping centers and plaza's that Detroit had to offer. He eventually found one that looked just like the old abandoned building owned by Artie Bucco in New York.

Avocato, being a smart cat, decided to take the back entrance, as he was sure this place was abandoned too. As he went through the back entrance, he saw trays laying around, filled up sinks filled with slop and mold everywhere. It had to be abandoned, or so he thought. As he scurried around the corner, he notices a lone woman sitting at a long table, just sitting there, talking to herself. It looked like she was talking to someone that wasn't there, which Avocato thought was very odd. Was this person okay? He couldn't communicate very well, but he took a look around again. Maybe he missed something.

As he glanced at the table, the food was disgusting and the mold had begun to build up on the tables from the exposure of moisture. It was absolutely horrendous and the smell even made Avocato gag a little. It was insane how the lady at the table was just sitting there.. Talking to herself.

Zeb mourns the loss of the great Artie, his condiment etiquette knew no bounds.

@Gordon_Ramsey, as much as I admire you're ranting, sweary kitchen saves, I outright dismiss your idea of eggs as a condiment.

HP for the win sir!

It does not take too much of waiting, but longer than in the average restaurant to wait to be served her haggis balls. Understandable as there are a ton of customers out there also waiting to be served. At least she receives some bread for the meantime. Just as it should be so, she does not have to starve while waiting.

SHe is looking all around her, and while not seeing many familiar faces at all, there are still some there. As she then receives her haggis, she looks to be delighted as she claps her hands together and then tries it.

SamRind cut into the haggis balls, having no idea what he was in for. How does someone describe this, but it was sorta like a meatloaf. More beer and bread would be needed for sure.

Since he had never had rabbit and the haggis was not so bad, when asked he went with the Rabbit, why not, for his main, and even shifted to red wine, feeling very sorted today

Zeb takes a seat and doffs his cap at Hanabi 

Good to see you hear, they don't serve my fahitas though, which is a shame.

nor do they have HP sauce which is disappointing.

God I miss Artie.