As fingers of pink stretch across the evening sky just beyond Beau Rivage on the Mississippi Coast, you’ll take one quick look at the resort’s dinner buffet and realize that it will take you a while to work your way through it.

Stretching more than 340 feet, the buffet offers more than 200 hot and cold food selections.

Even though your eye first spies scores of desserts (cakes, pies, donuts, brownies, a sundae bar, macaroons, bananas Foster, and some sugar-free options), you’ll want to reserve those choices for later.

After picking up your oversized, white dinner plate you’ll head to one of the many food stations. This is where southern delights like fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, mounds of mashed potatoes and ever-so-cheesy macaroni and cheese will be found. Further on you’ll encounter regional favorites like alligator sausage, next to fresh snapper, mussels, shrimp and a special treat of quail.

With more than 10 action stations, the dinner buffet includes a pasta bar, stone-baked pizza, fresh bread and choices such as tequila-broiled redfish, teriyaki salmon, fried catfish, shrimp Creole, mussels in white wine, chicken wings, barbecue ribs, pulled pork, peel-and-eat shrimp and pecan-dusted sea bass.

You’ll also find other regional dishes like jambalaya, turnip greens, cornbread, etouffèe, crab legs, and the Beau’s world famous gumbo that captured three awards, including a Gold Medal and a People’s Choice Award, in the 2004 Biloxi Seafood Festival Gumbo Championship.

Menus and quality have transformed since the days that food was a freebie – or, at least, low priced – to lure people into a casino. Beau Rivage’s commitment to serving quality food sometimes stretches across the ocean, said Buffet Chef Barbara Allyn. “If we have to get it from Italy or from Paris, that’s what we’ll do,” Ms. Allyn said. “Everything we serve is very fresh; all our dressings and sauces are made from scratch,” she continued.

The casino buffet of yesteryear, when gamers grabbed a charred burger, rice, potatoes and a quick dessert is a thing of the past. The buffets of MGM MIRAGE are something far different. They are as tasty and gourmet as the food served in five-star restaurants. In a word, their food is worth relishing.

Recipes

Seafood Gumbo Dark Roux