MORE THAN 100 RESTAURANTS OFFER WIDE RANGE OF CHOICES

"You want the round table?"

The hostess at the restaurant of the same name in Vicksburg, Miss., laid menus aside as she guided us into a large room almost consumed by a giant round table, complete with a "Lazy Susan."

Three other people were already seated around the table, and there was room for seven or eight more.

In each corner of the room were smaller tables. People seated at these tables ordered from the menu.

Within minutes, servers started bringing food to the "round table."

There were platters of fried chicken and baked ham and bowls of corn, mashed potatoes, white beans, and other vegetables, pies, puddings and fruit.

By this time, all seats around the table were filled, and the "Lazy Susan" was kept pleasantly turning. As a dish emptied, it was replaced with a full one.

No sooner than one person left, another took the vacant seat. Service station attendants, lawyers, businessmen and hungry tourists were invited to eat their fill.

This was an eating experience.

The restaurant is just one of many in the South that offer what is described as "good home cooking."

Another unique restaurant experience closer to home is Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston, birthplace of "throwed rolls."

On a day early in the restaurant life of Norman Lambert, he found himself with a large crowd in his modest cafe, when one of the customers yelled to "throw me a roll." Lambert obliged, and he's been throwing rolls to customers since.

You won't find a Round Table or "throwed rolls" in Cape Girardeau, but plenty of home cooking and other food establishments -- more than 100 of them -- thrive in the city.

Dining is alive and well here, with a number of restaurants that rank with some of the best in the region. The Cape Girardeau restaurant scene is a changing and diverse one, ranging from "fine dining" to "burgers and fries" to "all you can eat" establishments.

That's a far cry from earlier days, when most took their meals at the family tables, and the idea of "eating out" was an exception.

Today, restaurant goers consider dining out as a way to indulge themselves, says Watts Wacker, a partner in Yankelovic Partners, who recently conducted a dining out survey for the National Restaurant Association, which is observing its 75th anniversary this year.

In fact, 82 percent of the survey participants, which included restaurant patrons, critics and restaurateurs, said that going out to eat is the number one way they unwind and relax, and 60 percent view dining out as a way to "treat" themselves.

"Restaurants are now being viewed as an important place for people to get some true `R&R,'" said Bob Hoppmann, president of the Southeast Missouri Chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association and regional supervisor for the Pasta House Company, with restaurants in Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Ill., and Paducah, Ky.

"Going to a restaurant is a form of entertainment or celebration for many families," said Hoppmann. "In fact, one of the primary reasons people eat out is a celebration -- celebrating a promotion, a raise, birthdays..."

About 76 percent of survey respondents ranked anniversaries and birthdays as the top occasions for eating out. Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Father's Day ranked third, fourth and fifth.

Hoppmann says Cape Girardeau can support the large number of restaurants because the city is a regional center with medical and retail businesses that attract customers from a wide area.

Even with the large number of restaurants in the city, diners still find lines at some during the dinner hours.

This is no surprise to John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. He points out that at any time on a given day, there may be as many as 90,000 to 100,000 people in Cape Girardeau.

Some of the newest restaurants in town include the Red Lobster, which specializes in seafood; Fazoli's Italian Restaurant, which features fast food Italian style; The Bel Air Bar & Grill, which offers burgers, home-made chips and Jamaican pulled chicken and barbecue; and Papa Bear's Bar & Grill, with Cajun fare.

More restaurants are on the dining horizon, including a Ryan's Steak House and two specialty restaurants as part of MidAmerica Hotels Corp.'s plans for a 78-room mini-suite hotel and restaurant complex.

Cape Girardeau's restaurants offer the complete gamut of food.

The Phoenicia Restaurant specializes in dishes traditionally served in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions -- gyro meat and low-fat, low-calorie vegetables and salads and fried vegetarian patties called falafel, which is made of chick peas, garlic and a blend of Mediterranean spices.

A number of restaurants and fast-food establishments offer Mexican food. Others offer Cajun fare. Pizza establishments and Chinese food restaurants are plentiful. A number of national chain restaurants -- Applebee's, El Chico, Steak & Shake, Shoney's, H.R.H. Dumplins, Ponderosa, and numerous burger and/or fish establishments -- are found here.

The Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, Mollies Cafe & Bar and Whitfields Fine Dining offer elegant dining experiences with choices of a-la-carte menus that range from filet mignon, prime rib, lobster, barbecued shrimp and other seafoods.

Whitfields offers a unique experience for diners. The restaurant is located in a vintage house at 220 Independence in downtown Cape Girardeau.

The service is on the order of old Southern service, said Alma Staten. Waiters wear cut-away-tails and white gloves and hostesses wear French maid uniforms.

"We don't have a menu," she said. "We don't serve a special cuisine; we provide gourmet foods, and they are changed periodically. Diners are served in 11 dining rooms.

The Royal N' Orleans, which was acquired by Dennis Stockard, of DeJoy's Inc., in July 1987, is located in the Old Opera House, a historic building at the corner of Broadway and Lorimier. The structure has undergone complete renovation following a fire in 1990.

Mollies is located in another historic downtown Cape Girardeau building constructed in the early 1900s. The old Green Warehouse, 11-15 S. Spanish, now the Alliance building, is being remodeled by Bert and Maryanne Kellerman.

The restaurant business hasn't always been so lucrative.

Inns and taverns once answered the need of travelers and newly arrived settlers for lodging, food and drink. If travelers were in luck, they would find a tasty stew. But, dinner more than likely turned out to be an unappetizing mixture of salt pork and turnip tops.

As the country moved westward, taverns and inns sprung up along major routes in newly settled towns. Beer, cider and spirits flowed freely, but food, almost an afterthought, was normally served free to playing drinkers.

In later years, as cities grew larger and more industrialized, more people had to eat lunch away from home. Lunchrooms became popular, and horsedrawn wagons took lunch to factory workers.

Eating places expanded their bill of fare, menus were scribbled on a chalkboard and the restaurant business was off and running.

Today "rest, relaxation and romance" are the top reasons Americans dine out today, according to the Yankelovich survey.

The survey also revealed that Americans have mixed opinions when it comes to experimentation. While a large majority, 86 percent, agree that they like to try new restaurants, more people are cautious when it come to ordering.

Half of the diners surveyed say they like to experiment by ordering different dishes, but the other half prefer to order their favorites each time they go out.

Weekday dining habits have increased. Men eat an average of 2.8 meals out during the week, and 1.7 on weekends. Women eat out slightly less -- 1.9 during the week, and 1.4 on weekends.

Restaurant consumers, critics and restaurateurs all agree that dinner is their favorite meal out.

What do the customers want?

"Pamper me," say about 76 percent of diners when eating in a fine restaurant. Yet, among diners, the key criteria for choosing restaurants are good value, good food, and fun. Consider: 62 percent of the diners say a restaurant must provide good value for the money; 54 percent want food that's a treat to eat; 52 percent are looking for a place that is fun to go to, and 44 percent say a no-smoking policy is very important.

In addition a good beer selection now runs neck-and-neck with a good wine list, as consumers ranked these two as almost even.

Another sign-of-the-times fact is that a third of the restaurant goers say they are eating more food at fast-food establishments and less at sit-down ones. The reasons, they say, are simple -- time and money.