Casinos, Restaurants and Paula Deen

by julie on August 18, 2010

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Paula Deen, who I thought couldn’t get any more commercial, is now licensing her recipes and likeness to a casino buffet.

Not joking.

Harrah’s (who will be operating Cincinnati’s casino) is opening Paula Deen Dining and Buffet at its Horseshoe Casino in Southern Indiana, just over the Kentucky border from Louisville (this casino also features Graeter’s Ice Cream). A bit of further research shows that they are already in existence at their Tunica, MS casino, and her Lady and Sons restaurant offers a buffet as well (though the Harrah’s version is far more elaborate).

Part of me says, “Go Paula! You pulled yourself up by your bootstraps, and now I can’t avoid your smiling face. Good for you! That’s the American way!” Another part of me says, “Wow, this sounds like possibly the scariest idea ever. Paula Deen food? A casino buffet? Do they have a Lipitor station?” Paula will be opening the buffet on September 3 in a ribbon cutting ceremony. After you eat her fried chicken and barbecue, you can also hang out in a “simulation of Paula’s TV kitchen” and buy Paula-related stuff in the nearby gift shop.

Don’t get me wrong, but I have, in the past, liked Paula Deen quite a bit. When her show first started, she reminded me of a younger version my grandma (which is a very good thing). She’s since devolved into a Southern caricature, and her audience expects her to put as much butter and bacon into her recipes as possible. I look at her in the same way I do Rachael Ray and Emeril from their early days– I miss their earlier incarnations just a little bit.

Can I put out a request to the folks who are designing Harrah’s space downtown? Can we skip Paula Deen, please? Readers, will you be visiting the Horseshoe Casino, or would you eat at a Paula Deen buffet in the new casino downtown? What kind of restaurants would you like to see in the casino?

Tagged as: casino, harrah's, paula deen

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Jonni Lynch

When in Louisville this past weekend celebrating our 9th anniversary, we saw billboards for this EVERYWHERE…Justin and I said the same thing. We wondered, “will someone trained in CPR also be the drink refiller?”

vudutu

ROFLOL

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Cappy

Go get em Paula! It can’t be any worse for you than what is already on an average riverboat casino buffet. Makes perfect sense for Harrah’s to slap her name on it, just Marketing 101.

http://winemedinemecincinnati.com julie

Fair point, Cappy. Seems the Southern/Midwestern casinos have this branded casino buffet. Know your audience, right?

Cappy

Yes. My guess is the Cincinnati casino will be similar to others in the region with a buffet, cafe/coffee/ice cream place, and maybe a theme restaurant that isn’t already going to be somewhere else on the Banks. Margaritaville or something equally gross. Harrah’s has some decent and interesting dining in their Vegas casinos, but I don’t think they have branched them out to the boats.

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Ben

Casino grub wishlist:

Gourmet Pub
High end cocktail lounge that does not have a single bottle of vodka in it, and serves no food
Something that makes Bahn Mi, I don’t care what it is, Cincinnati just needs more Bahn Mi

Most likely none of this will come to be

vudutu

Sorry Julie but I can’t help revisiting what Bourdain said on Rhulman’s blog, seem to go right along with people who can’t do math.
PAULA DEEN: I’m reluctant to bash what seems to be a nice old lady. Even if her supporting cast is beginning to look like the Hills Have Eyes–and her food a True Buffet of Horrors. A recent Hawaii show was indistinguishable from an early John Waters film. And the food on a par with the last scene of Pink Flamingos. But I’d like to see her mad. Like her look-alike, Divine in the classic, “Female Trouble.“ Paula Deen on a Baltimore Killing Spree would be something to see. Let her get Rachael in a headlock–and it’s all over.

Alana S.

The buffet doesn’t just have her name on it. She’s been to the casino several times while it was being constructed to oversee production of the facility, and she’s working with the cooks to make sure things are done her way.