DOWNTOWN BECOMING A DINING DESTINATION

Cape Girardeau is becoming a dining destination. Whether it's burgers or Brie cheese encrusted with pecans, food lovers will find it in downtown Cape's dozen diverse and delightful restaurants.

"We have the entire mix," said restauranteur John Wyman.

That mix -- which includes Cajun, seafood, gourmet salads, steaks, pastries, barbecue, home-cooked blue-plate specials and an old-fashioned ice cream parlor -- will get even more diverse with the opening of Bella Italia and a new partner at Rufus Mudsucker's, Chris Bearss.

Wyman and his wife, Jerrianne, who own Mollie's and the Royal N'Orleans, opened Bella Italia, which features pasta, pizza and other traditional Italian fare, last week in the former Europa's Gourmet Market at 20 N. Spanish.

"We've added new seating -- up to 100 -- and a new menu," said Wyman. "We've wanted to get involved in an Italian restaurant a long time. But we never had the right set of circumstances."

The Wymans opened Europa's two years ago as a food market and small caf, combining gourmet food items with a casual dining menu of soups, salads, sandwiches and quiche.

The new restaurant serves lunch and dinner and features a variety of pasta dishes -- pasta Milan, pasta Leonardo, fettuccini Alfredo, lasagna. Also on the menu are pizza and some Old World favorites -- chicken parmesan, Veda Gesuvio, roasted garlic chicken piccat and shrimp scampi.

While Bella Italia is a restaurant, it opens at 9 a.m. to meet the needs of those who got used to Europa's coffee. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m. The dinner menus starts about 5 p.m. The restaurant offers a full bar service -- beer, wines and mixed drinks as well as a take-out menu.

New Mudsucker's menu

Bearss has introduced a new menu for Rufus Mudsucker's, which opens for dinner at 5 p.m. Bearss, formerly of Boulder, Colo., is new to the restaurant business.

The new dinner menu includes such signature dishes as blackened salmon ravioli, chicken and beef ravioli, a grilled veggie salad and grilled mahi-mahi.

Bearss said the restaurant also features traditional dinner fare such as ribeye steaks, a blackened salmon fillet, chicken Florentine as well as a number of appetizers, salads and pasta items.

Bearss plans to add a lunch menu in the future.

"I was a consultant in the computer industry the past four years," Bearss said. "I've visited friends here every summer for the past eight or nine years. I've become acquainted with some of the community. I like the quality of life it offers for me and my son."

Bearss, a native of Michigan, attended school at Boulder. He also served four years in the U.S. Navy.

Although it has not yet been officially put on the downtown menu, another restaurant besides Bella Italia will soon open in Cape's downtown area.