Restaurant Tulipanes

Buffets are often a good deal, but sometimes you sacrifice food quality and freshness in the bargain. The breakfast buffet at Los Tulipanes Restaurant, however, is fresh and varied. Standards each day are refried beans, crunchy chilaquiles, and eggs made to order. That’s a meal in itself, along with fresh orange juice and seemingly endless streams of hot coffee. Other hot dishes vary daily, but on a recent morning included potato croquettes, sliced baguette, zuccini-cheese-corn salad, chicken in peanut sauce, and three other meat dishes. There were also three or four different salsas and an enormous fruit platter.

My waiter, Gustavo, was polite and attentive, offering refills of juice as well as coffee. An advertisement on the wall-mounted TV showing abdominal surgery cut my piggery short, but at these prices, I can afford to come back tomorrow.

City: Tepic State: Nayarit Region: Central Pacific Coast Who: Restaurant Tulipanes, attached to Hotel Tepic What: Super breakfast buffet Where: Calle Dr. Martinez 438 at Calle Republica de Chile, behind the bus station Tel. 311/214-7615 When: Buffet daily 7 AM to noon; Restaurant open 7AM to 10PM Mon.—Sat., 7AM to 2PM Sunday Why: Just because, AKA “Your mother said so.” How: Go closer to noon and you’re set for most of the day. Cost: 69 pesos (close to US$7) Other notes: MasterCard and Visa accepted