For most eaters, the words "breakfast buffet" conjure up soupy eggs, withered bacon and grease-swimming potatoes languishing in steam-table hell—perfect fare for a dinner-theater production of Glengarry Glen Ross in Snakebite, Ala. At this plush hotel restaurant high on a hill off Elm Hill Pike, however, you'll find omelet and Belgian waffle stations, smoked salmon with capers, and fat sausage links along with the requisite biscuits, bacon and grits. The cost: a reasonable $14.95. Think of this semi-swanky smorgasbord (a Mother's Day must in my household) as an upgrade—Shoney's without the whiff of bus-depot purgatory. — Jim Ridley