A TASTE OF CAPE GIRARDEAU; MEXICAN, MIDDLE EASTERN, ORIENTAL RESTAURANTS STRIVE FOR AUTHENTICITY

Pad See Eew is one of the items on the menu at Manee. The crunchy deep-fried noodles are covered in a sweet sauce.

Phoenicia on Sprigg Street specializes in Middle Eastern food prepared by Lebanese-born chef Emad Salamy.

Oriental screen paintings of bonsai trees, brilliantly colored wood carvings of dancing dragons, striped table cloths from Guadalajara and Mexican tunes from the group "Bronco" are some of the sights and sounds that fill local restaurants and take eyes and ears on a trip around the world without leaving Cape Girardeau.

But the tastebuds benefit the most. The foreign cuisine offered in some local restaurants earns the term "authentic" from the native hands that prepare each entree.

"Hola" is the greeting "a la puerta" (at the door) of El Torero. Owner Daniel Alvarez and his amigos from Jalisco brought the hot and spicy "sabor" (that's "flavor") of Mexico to Cape Girardeau and Jackson with "South-of-the-border know-how," Alvarez said.

For a basic meal in Mexican tradition, tortillas replace dinner rolls and tacos de carne asada, or meat tacos, replace hamburgers.

For those who don't know the difference between a chimichanga and an enchilada, the menu explains ingredients and pronunciation. The information is important for those who prefer their entree rolled with a corn tortilla or rolled with a flour tortilla and deep fried.

Pico de gallo, a mixture of cilantro and diced tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and chiles -- the bright green ones are dangerously spicy -- garnish many of the dishes, including the restaurant's specialty, shrimp fajitas.

Fajita dinners are served with all the Mexican trimmings: Spanish rice, refried beans, lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo and tortillas.

Even dessert is a Mexican experience. Sopapillas, fried flour tortillas with honey and butter, and fried ice cream are two of the famous "postres."

Sailing half-way around the world is a drive up North Sprigg Street away. Cars can dock at Phoenicia where tortillas transform into pitas.

Emad and Mimi Salamy, the Lebanese owners of the restaurant, specialize in Lebanese, Greek and Middle Eastern dishes.

Skimming the menu highlights Greek signatures: lamb, egg plant, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, feta cheese and Salamy's own yogurt and cucumber sauce.

Except for a vacation period Aug. 1-20, entrees featuring these main ingredients are served daily.

Pita sandwiches range from the basic gyro of lamb and beef with yogurt sauce to the shawarma, a gyro with sesame sauce, to the more vegetarian styles, a falafel with chick peas or a baba ghannouj with egg plant.

Another Middle Eastern favorite, the shish kebab, comes with lamb, minced meat, shrimp or the number-one seller, chicken. The mjaddara is a popular lentil and rice soup served with a bean salad and a Meditteranean salad.

Mediterranean salads vary in spices. For example, the tabbouleh has parsley and cracked wheat and the tahini adds sesame sauce and garlic. Other salads come with mashed eggplant or chickpeas.

The sweet Greek tooth ventures to the bottom of the menu for the baklawa with its light pastry filo layers, walnuts and syrup, the greybeh lemon bars and knafa's shredded wheat stuffed with ricotta cheese.

Continuing farther east to Thailand, the taste buds find the famous Thai curries, or spicy stews, at Manee Thai Food & Noodle.

Thai owner Dan (Amornrat) Rifenberg serves the lemon-spicy broth in hot pots, bunt cake-like pans with a flame in the center. Stews come with seafood, chicken called tom kha-kai or hot and sour shrimp called tom yumm koong.

Sometimes associated with Chinese food since both include lots of rice, Thai food differs because it has a fish sauce instead of soy, the sauces aren't as thick and Thai is much spicier, Rifenberg said.

Rifenberg regulates the spiciness of his food with a mixture of chile, garlic, shrimp paste, onion and lemongrass. Other Thai ingredients are coconut cream, red curry paste, bamboo shoots, basil and galanga, which prevents food poisoning.

For a quick taste of Thai, Rifenberg suggests #9, pan-fried rice with noodles, bean sprouts, scallions, fried tofu, egg and toasted ground peanut. But the most popular entrees include chicken or vegetables served with red curry or holy basil.

Specialty items to check out are Manee no-meat egg rolls, which Rifenberg rolls fresh before each preparation, and Thai iced tea, a mixture of sweetened tea, anise and creamer that gives the drink a creamy eggnog/molasses zing.

Another oriental food favorite is Chinese.

Chinese outnumbers all authentic foreign cuisine restaurants in Cape Girardeau with Pagoda Gardens, Jade, Kowloon, Chan's, China Palace, China Gate and King House.

Subtle differences exist between the kind of Chinese served: Mandarin, Cantonese, Hunan or Szechuan. Each originates in a different region of China and differs in vegetables and sauces.

China Palace, like most restaurants, serves a little of each.

Mandarin comes from middle-eastern China and Shanghai. Since it is by the ocean, ocean fish became the defining meat, said John Cai, owner of China Palace. But they also eat some chicken and pork.

Normally, Mandarin sauces are mild and contain soy sauce, sugar and cooking wine. Noodles and dumplings are also popular.

The Canton region, including Hong Kong, is also close to the ocean and has fish in many dishes. Cantonese eat lots of soup, stir-fry or braise much of their food and are famous for their desserts, Cai said.

Cantonese is mild in comparison to Hunan and Szechuan because meat juices are used in cooking rather than lots of spices.

Cai's best seller is sesame chicken, chicken dipped in egg batter, deep-fried and sauteed in a a hot, spicy, sweet and sour sauce. This is known as Szechuan style.

Hunan cooking, from the province of Huna, was the first Chinese food to come to the United States. It is known as traditional Chinese, said Andy (Chak Yiu) Lui, owner of Jade Restaurant.

Hunan food uses red pepper, ginger and garlic for its spicy flavor.

Popular dishes at Pagoda Gardens include Cantonese-style dishes like cashew chicken, chicken with broccoli and beef with broccoli, said owner Sam Prasanphanich.

Cashew chicken is also one of the popular dishes at Jade Restaurant. Another is sweet and sour chicken.

Lui has a new specialty, a honey-braised chicken, chicken deep-fried and glazed with a honey sauce. Singapore Style Vermicelli gives his menu an Italian flare as well.

A Chinese favorite is the banana fritters, deep-fried bananas covered in a sugar sauce.

Despite few menu differences, the majority of Chinese restaurants in Cape Girardeau find buffets are the way to go. Kowloon Restaurant reports 95 percent of the customers order the buffet.

Although a new establishment, Lui already has learned the same is true for Jade Restaurant. Americans trust the sight of food rather than the sound of it, he said.

"Buffets are a good way to serve new things because customers don't like to order something they can't see," Lui said. "It's also a good way to see what they like and what they don't like so we know how to prepare menus in the future."