Our first visit here, about a year ago, was such a pleasure that we had been eager to return ever since. Piccadilly Catering features comfort food—much of it Southern—such as fried chicken, hot links and even macaroni and cheese. Along with the meal comes a bottomless lemonade, sweet tea or mimosa. One can even have a combination—I enjoyed my first ever Arnold Palmer there yesterday. The sweet tea, a Southern drink, is so saturated with sugar it won’t quench your thirst—drink it for the flavor.
For my first pass yesterday at this all-you-can-eat buffet I tried the basics such as the fried chicken, pork ribs, hot link and the gumbo. The fried chicken was delightful and, surprisingly, wasn’t heavy. The ribs were tender although I thought the sauce salty. The same could be said of the gumbo, which was much saltier than for our first visit.
There are two dishes that are brought to your table and I recommend both. The catfish can come either grilled or fried. My wife and I both tried the grilled catfish which arrived hot, juicy and tender. The other dish is a deep fried jumbo prawn on crab cake, which again was terrific. The deep fried prawn should be eaten quickly, while it’s still hot and crisp.
The highlight of the day for me, though, was the turkey neck. Served with gravy, the meat on the turkey neck fell off as the neck was rolled on the plate with a fork. This meat was more flavorful and tender than any other part of the turkey I’ve ever tried.
For those who don’t mind getting their fingers a little wet, the crab legs and crayfish were certainly worth the trouble, especially since the crab legs were served cracked. For the uninitiated, when eating the crayfish go for the meat in the tail. The brain usually packs a lot of flavor, too.
The desserts included bread pudding (a little too heavy for my taste), peach cobbler (excellent—especially the crust) and sweet potato pie. This last one we were allowed to bring home and it’s now sitting in our refrigerator. If tastes anything like it looks, though, it will make the perfect reason to suffer through even the most difficult of meals.
Perhaps because of the lack of novelty associated with a second visit or maybe because the gumbo was so salty, my wife and I agreed yesterday’s experience wasn’t as powerful as the first. Even so, I would still put the Sunday buffet at Piccadilly Catering above any other Sunday brunch in the Bay Area save the Ritz Carleton. And, at $25, the value at Piccadilly trumps even the Ritz.
Foster City, CA 94404-2902
(650) 573-0444
