HBO’s ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ and the Post-Church Buffet Restaurant | Eater
"A prototypical small-town chain steakhouse whose salad buffet — piled with mostly shredded cheddar and bacon bits atop a few leaves of iceberg, self-serve scoops of cottage cheese and canned pineapple — and reliably well-done, corn-fed steaks evoke the ritual of the Sunday meal. Portrayed as the ‘nice place’ in a town full of chains, it serves as a site of social display and community recognition: longtime patrons feel rooted there, staff are accommodating, and a growing local empire eventually moves from the main dining room into a reserved upstairs private room. Designed with chain-style decor and gift-certificate marketing in mind, the restaurant symbolizes new-money populism — a place that signals both comfort with ordinary tastes and a desire to appear as everyday folks despite significant wealth." - Jaya Saxena
