LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Even in this over-the-top town famed for all-you-can-eat spreads, nobody had ever seen one quite like this: Forty soups, 100 salads and 150 desserts perched upon a 500-foot (152-meter) maze of tables.


It was enough -- 510 different dishes in all -- to qualify on Tuesday for a Guinness record for the World's Largest Buffet.

"I'm interested in trying some of the desserts now," said tired and hungry Guinness official Nadine Causey, who flew in from London to certify that Las Vegas Hilton Executive Chef George Bargisen had assembled at least 500 unique offerings to create the new record buffet.

Bargisen spent 24 hours straight overseeing the mammoth spread, which included dishes from a dozen ethnic cuisines and offered everything from salmon Wellington to fried alligator, and from pumpkin pie to baklava and pistachio truffles.

"I was in town anyway and thought it might be fun to come by," said tourist Marianne Ruiz, 56, of Seattle, as she headed to her table with a plate overflowing with lyonnaise potatoes, curried chicken, a pile of Waldorf salad, a bowl of gazpacho soup and a slice of apple pie.

Proceeds from the $7.50 a head buffet were donated to hunger relief charity America's Second Harvest.