INSIDE THE NEW LAS VEGAS : Glutton’s Paradise : In today’s Las Vegas, with its emphasis on variety and value, buffets offer choices for everyone, even dieters.

What is it about the Las Vegas buffet . . . that perfect venue for gluttony of unabridged proportions? Why is it so popular, such an enduring icon? And why is it that eating too much is the thing to do on a Las Vegas vacation?

For 50 years, Las Vegas has been synonymous with excess gambling, drinking, 24-hour carousing and, of course, eating. Yet while not every visitor is inclined to dive headlong into booze, blackjack and all-nighters, culinary greed has never seemed tangled in formidable moral issues. Thanks to the all-you-can-eat buffet, anyone with a few bucks and a loose belt can take home his or her own tale of over-indulgence. In the new Las Vegas--where the emphasis is on value and family-friendliness--the buffet’s popularity, as reflected by its growing prevalence, is at an all-time high.

This is fitting, because the buffet started out as a humble affair. El Rancho Vegas, the first Strip casino (since gone), inaugurated the Las Vegas buffet in the late ‘40s, laying out a big late-night spread designed to keep patrons in the casino after the second show. That was long before my time, but Las Vegas elders tell me it was quite a feast, especially for $1. It was called a chuck wagon (not a buffet or smorgasbord, although the term “groaning board” was sometimes used, reminiscent of the feeling one had after completing the meal).

Las Vegas has always been a copycat town, and the other casinos on the Strip quickly instituted their own $1 graveyard feeds. The next development was the switch to daytime hours. During the 1950s, the Last Frontier (now called the Frontier) and the Dunes served the first “hunt breakfasts,” forerunners in Las Vegas of the Sunday champagne brunch. And gradually, through the 1960s and ‘70s, the breakfast, lunch and dinner format replaced the midnight spread. (Only one graveyard buffet--at Vacation Village on the south end of the Strip--exists in all of Las Vegas today.)

As late as the mid-’70s, inflation was still an unknown on the chuck-wagon scene. The most opulent spread, at Caesars Palace, cost $2.75; the most expensive brunch in town, at the Dunes, was $4. These modest prices (and the name chuck wagon) finally began to disappear in the ‘80s, following the success of higher-priced, higher-quality buffets at the Sands and the Golden Nugget. Other casinos again duplicated the new formula and the standard of quality for buffets has remained high ever since.

Today, Las Vegas is the buffet capital of the world. Approximately 40 casinos offer a buffet of some kind. The least expensive is $2.29 for breakfast at Circus Circus; the priciest is $29.95 for Sunday brunch at Bally’s. The average cost is $4 for breakfast, $5 for lunch and $7.25 for dinner. The largest buffet in town, the RoundTable at Excalibur, seats 1,446. Circus Circus is still considered the busiest, having served more than 4 million meals in 1993 alone.

Statistics are fine. But what about gluttony? Rest assured, any buffet in town will satisfy even the most hoggish appetite. But we can do better. If we’re going to indulge, we should indulge in the best available. The following is a guide to Las Vegas’ hottest buffets. It is admittedly subjective, but the first thing I did when I moved to Las Vegas in 1979 was to sit down to a buffet, and I’ve sampled close to a thousand separate meals since.

Top Two

The buffets at two off-Strip casinos, the Rio and the Palace Station, stand together atop the buffet hierarchy. Both are just west of Interstate 15 and both are considered casinos of the locals because of their popularity with Las Vegas residents.

The Rio’s Carnival World is a quantum leap forward in the Las Vegas buffet. The big sizzle is a Mongolian grill, where fresh vegetables, meats, seafood and spices are stir-fried and served hot and, well, sizzling. One trip to this station is worth twice the price of admission. Other food stations specialize in Mexican, Chinese, Italian and American cuisines and most pastries and breads are from Rio’s own bakery. The dining room itself is a spectacle, a mini food city with something for every taste. Prices are $3.25 for breakfast, $5.25 for lunch and $7.25 for dinner. Hint: Lunch is as good as dinner and the lines are shorter.

Palace Station’s Feast is the innovative, working-man’s buffet, where hamburgers and pizza coexist alongside quiche, Sichuan eggplant, osso bucco and halibut with Chardonnay caper butter. Palace Station was the first to use a short-order chef to prepare entrees on open grills in the dining room, ensuring freshness and personalized preparation. The menu changes daily. Call (702) 367-2428 for a recording that details the breakfast, lunch and dinner menu for any day of the current week. Breakfast is $3.95, lunch $4.95 and dinner $7.95.

Next Best

Can’t get to either of the big two? Then try these. Several in this group are distinguished by a special feature or menu item.

For example, the Las Vegas Hilton’s Buffet of Champions ($11.95) is the favorite of crab-leg fanatics (available only at dinner). Enormous king crab legs are piled high over ice, and diners can eat as many as they can hold. Mix a little atomic horseradish with cocktail sauce and lemon, and gorge on the ultimate crab cocktail.

The Mirage buffet ($10.25) is the best in town for unlimited peel-and-eat shrimp. It also excels in salads and desserts.

Bally’s Big Kitchen ($11.95) is the place to go for Chinese (a smaller kitchen within the “Big Kitchen” prepares the specialties fresh, nightly).

The Buffet at the Golden Nugget ($9.50) has been famous for a decade for its bread pudding. A good play is dining Sunday evening, when the best of the Nugget’s Sunday brunch (an enduring local favorite) is offered along with fresh dinner entrees.

The 1,000-seat MGM Grand Oz Buffet ($7.95) represents the best effort of the three new mega-resorts, none of which had great buffets as a priority. The MGM is distinguished by its dessert line-up, the city’s best, with everything from blackberry tarts to Black Forest cake.

At Circus Circus, the menu may be run-of-the-mill, but the price is right ($3.99). Circus Circus has always promoted quantity and affordability over quality; it’s the best of the low-cost offerings.

Other buffets that rate highly are Caesars Palace Palatium ($11.95), Frontier ($5.95) and Gold Coast ($5.45).

Next, in terms of eating interest but still a cut above the average, are buffets at the Stardust (7.95), Riviera ($6.95), Luxor ($6.95) and Sam’s Town ($6.49). Check newspapers, freebie magazines and casino fun books for possible dollar-offs, 2-for-1’s and other discounts for these buffets.

Seafood Buffets

Careful here. With seafood, proper preparation is crucial but not always possible in a high-volume buffet. If cold shellfish is enough to satisfy you, try the Frontier on Friday nights ($7.95) or Fremont ($11.95) on Tuesday, Friday or Sunday. Expect long lines.

The Friday nighter at the Gold Coast is a real bargain at only $5.45, but it doesn’t include oysters and clams. Be wary of lobster buffets. It’s virtually impossible to keep lobster warm without overcooking or waterlogging. Casinos keep trying and failing. The only one that’s ever been successful opened recently in the Cafe Roma coffee shop at Caesars Palace ($19.95). They cook the lobsters properly and don’t worry about keeping them warm. Consequently, lobsters are served at room temperature with lemon and cocktail sauce (instead of drawn butter) for seasoning.

Sunday Brunch

A Sunday champagne brunch is the ultimate Las Vegas buffet splurge, where price considerations usually get thrown out the window in favor of “peak” experiences. That makes the choice easy, since two Las Vegas brunches stand far above the competition: the “Sterling” at Bally’s ($29.95) and the “Island” at the Tropicana ($20.95).

At Bally’s, entrees are supported by a well-stocked sushi bar, lobster omelets and goblets of fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries for dessert. Bally’s serves all-you-can-drink Laurent-Perrier brut, the best Champagne selection of any brunch in town. The room is beautiful and spacious, and waiters are everywhere. I once tested a waiter who suggested that I ask if I wanted something I didn’t see.

“What if I want a T-bone steak,” I asked.

“I could round one up.”

“How about a bowl of Cheerios?”

“That would be tough, but I’d see what I could do.”

The Tropicana’s room is not as formal, but the food selection is even better than Bally’s for those into international cuisines. The following are standard: ceviche, salmon tartare, caviar, sushi and sashimi, a fresh pasta station and cooked-to-order crepes Suzette and bananas Foster.

Going top-shelf at either Bally’s or Tropicana is highly recommended, but if the pocketbook is a concern, the Sunday brunches at Caesars Palace ($14.50), Desert Inn ($10.95) and Golden Nugget ($9.95) are also memorable.

Healthy Now

As Las Vegas evolves from Sin City to family friendly, buffets are also changing to keep pace. Sinful appears alongside sugar-free on dessert stations at the Stardust, Rio, Hilton and Riviera, among others. Heart-healthy items including egg-white omelets, low-fat and canola-oil based dressings are standard at all Palace Station Feast meals. Even in the land of excess, they’re cutting out the sugar and the fat. If the buffet is a reliable indicator, then this really is a new Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Strip

1) Bally’s

2) Caesars Palace

3) Circus Circus

4) Desert Inn

5) Excalibur

6) Fremont

7) Frontier

8) Gold Coast

9) Golden Nugget

10) Las Vegas Hilton

11) Luxor

12) MGM Grand

13) Mirage

14) Palace Station

15) Rio

16) Riviera

17) Stardust

18) Tropicana