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May 24, 2023
Paul Revere is dead and gone...
No, not that Paul Revere - I am talking about the Paul Revere Smorgasbord Restaurant in Ocean City, MD.
You see, every summer while I was in high school my family would rent a beach house in Ocean City for a week - and at some point, during that week my father would pack us all into the family station wagon for dinner at the Paul Revere Smorgasbord Restaurant.
More accurately, for my family it was the Paul Revere - "All You Can Eat" - Smorgasbord Restaurant.
You see with four growing kids back in the 1970s, taking us to an all you can eat restaurant for a set price was a bargain for my family.
I am sure these restaurants made lots of money off the other families - who paid the fixed price (menu prix fixe) for all of their kids - because those other kids under performed and never got close to eating their money's worth from the expansive buffet.
Not my family.
My brother Mike and I could Consume Mass Quantities of any food, and my younger brother Jimmy and my sister Mary could also make a dent in your average size buffet if properly motivated.
To provide a sense of scale - I was the kid who would routinely eat eight pieces of toast as a snack after coming home from school (...we had a four-slice toaster).
Attacking a buffet at a Smorgasbord Restaurant was incredibly cost effective for our family, especially after we learned the strategy behind a successful attack.
Early on in the game I made the tactical mistake of filling my plate with salad and bread during my first visit to the buffet.
When I got back to the table, my father took a long slow look at my choices and then after an exasperated sigh took the time to explain to me that if I started with too much salad and bread, I would not be able to get my/his money's worth of roast beef, ribs or chicken.
I was a quick student, so on my next sortie to the buffet I returned with a plate stacked so high with the afore mentioned high value targets that it brought a smile to my proud father's face.
After becoming a buffet ace, I was well prepared for the inevitable visit to Paul Revere's each summer over the next several years.
To this day, when I close my eyes I can still see my father, smiling with satisfaction as I made trip after trip to the buffet - returning with mounds of beef and other proteins each time.
Ah, memories...
When we moved to Lewes, DE last year - which is only 30 miles from Ocean City, MD - I decided to see what ever had become of the Paul Revere Smorgasbord Restaurant.
To my surprise, the restaurant had persevered and thrived for more than 45 years and was still operating as recently as 2020.
Sadly, I also learned that it was unable to survive the shutdown that followed the COVID-19 pandemic and it closed for good last year.
The most recent Yelp reviews might not be so complementary but in my memory it was a fun experience that I looked forward to each summer.
If they ever open a Smorgasbord All You Can Eat Restaurant Hall of Fame, you can bet that I will proudly nominate Paul Revere's Smorgasbord Restaurant as a candidate for inclusion.
