RX CATERING CAFE
   
200 N. Bowman Road, Little Rock, (501) 221-3929, www.Rx-Catering. net. Open 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday.
   Rx Catering Cafe bills itself as "just what the doctor ordered." It's more like just what the stomach ordered.
   A franchise cafe and catering service started by former pharmaceutical representatives and executive chefs, Rx has an intriguing menu that is rich in chicken entrees and casseroles.
   Headlining the restaurant menu are plate lunches, $6, with the usual format: an entree, two vegetables and a choice of cheese biscuits or French bread. Three vegetables and bread are $4.
   For our entrees we tried the pot roast, cooked and flavored to a consistency that had us savoring every bite of the generous serving, and a deliciously unique poppy-seed chicken casserole.
   Breaded toppings are plentiful here; we found them on our sides of green bean casserole and sinfully carbohydrate-rich hash brown casserole, as well as on the poppy-seed chicken casserole. A third side dish, buttered corn, tasted as good as one would expect buttered corn to taste.
   For dessert we tried the peach cobbler, which we especially enjoyed because we are crust fans. Unlike at a few too many eateries, the crust was just right... nicely brown on top and not gooey.
   Those who wish to start their day at Rx may choose from a $4 breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, biscuit and gravy and bacon; a la carte breakfast items, $1 to $3.25; and bacon, ham and sausage breakfast sandwiches for $3.85. Also available are continental-breakfast items, from 89-cent bagels to $1.99 cinnamon rolls. There's a full espresso bar and, for those who want to linger a bit and get some work done, there's wireless-Internet availability.
   -- Helaine R. Williams

HUNAN PALACE EXPRESS
2906 MacArthur Drive, North Little Rock, (501) 812-5925. Open 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-8 p.m. Sunday When you see the name "Hunan Palace Express," think "express," not "palace." The restaurant, which occupies a tiny hut just north of Pershing Boulevard where Pike Avenue continues as MacArthur Drive, was a Mexican drive-through and a burger drive-through before it became a Chinese drive-through.
   The two principal reasons for visiting Hunan Palace Express are "fast" and "inexpensive." Nothing is over $5.75. You can order entrees in two categories: "Combos," which come with drink, egg roll and fried rice, $4.95 for chicken and beef, $5.25 for shrimp, or as "Combination Platters," without the drink, $4.75. You can also order lo mein (soft noodles, $4.95 chicken or beef, $5.50 shrimp, $5.75 combo) or fried rice ($3.85- $3.95 pint, $4.95- $5.50 quart).
   The Mongolian Beef -- sauteed beef and onions -- was rich and strong but not spicy (as many Chinese restaurants serve it). The Szechuan-style Hot Spicy Shrimp, sauteed with water chestnuts, carrots and sliced green bell peppers, was pleasantly spicy but not fiery.
   It's worth a dollar for a substantial 16-ounce portion of soup, either the tasty, spicy but not that spicy Hot and Sour or the Wonton, which had a delicate broth and a monster meatfilled dumpling, but both our to-go orders lacked spoons.
   Place your order by phone and you can pick it up at the drive-through window in 10 minutes. It took less than that ordered over the counter in the tiny vestibule.
   -- Eric E. Harrison
   

MAMA BEA'S BIG BURGERS
   
5900 W. 12th St., Little Rock, (501) 663-3031. Open 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Saturday.
   Mama Bea's bills itself as the place for "All American Old Fashioned Hamburgers." The restaurant lives up to its proclamation on two fronts: The burgers are hand-patted and dressed the way Mama used to make them, and the decor leaves no doubt that it's an all-American establishment.
   The last time we ate at this location, it housed one of Robert "Say" McIntosh's eateries, and the walls were covered with preaching. Mama has the place tastefully awash in patriotism that is not overdone.
   And neither is the food. Everything we sampled was pretty much just right.
   Our beef-eater took on Mama Bea's cheeseburger, and got a beautiful, well-done specimen dressed, as they all are, in lettuce, tomato, dill pickle, onion, mustard and mayonnaise.
   Burgers come in regular ($3), jumbo ($3.75), double meat ($4.75) and triple meat ($5.99). A slice of American cheese adds 50 cents, and a slice of hot cheese costs 75 cents. There are also combo deals for each burger, priced from $5.80 to $7.25; a manager's special of two jumbo cheeseburgers for $6.99; and for those who eschew beef, but still want to look like they're eating a burger in a burger joint, there is a turkey version for $4.25.
   The hot dog in our threesome went for the foot-long dog ($3.99) with mustard, chili, cheese and slaw (jalapeno peppers are available, but she declined ). The dog came in a paper boat and, to the hot-dogger's delight, under all the dressings, she found the wiener was cut into bite-size pieces, so there was no trying to saw off a piece with the plastic cutlery. Hot dog got an order of onion rings ($2). She declared the crispy-on-theoutside, yummy-on-the-inside rings to be the stars of her meal, although the chili on the dog also got kudos for not being too greasy.
   The aquatic one went for the catfish dinner ($7.99) with its three golden filets enveloped by a crunchy batter that didn't overwhelm the taste of the fish. The dinner comes with fries, three cherry tomato-size hush puppies that were OK, and an overly-dressed-for-our-tastes slaw.
   -- Denise Dorton
   

THE FLYING BURRITO CO.
   
300D President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, (501) 372-7272 ; www. flyingburritoco.com. Open 11 a.m.-midnight (walk-up window stays open until 3 a.m.) Monday-Saturday ; Sunday hours pending.
   This is an offshoot of a popular Fayetteville burrito-to-order bar, where you can have your burrito stuffed with at least a dozen different ingredients. The burritos are large and filling and reasonably tasty, but the peak of the lunchtime rush meant as much as a 25-minute wait just to get to the counter and 10 minutes to get the burrito made and paid for.
   For burritos, you have a choice of 12-inch tortillas -- wheat, flour, tomato-basil, spinach or jalapeno cheddar; vegetable ($5.29), chicken, beef or carnitas (shredded pork, $5.59) or steak or fish ($6.29); and rice, beans (refried or black), cheese, sour cream, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, corn, jalapenos, black olives, salsa and/or potatoes, all rolled up into a big, fat wad and wrapped in foil, which you peel back bit by bit to keep the whole thing together and not dump it into your lap.
   Mild or slightly spicy queso, grilled peppers and onions, extra meat and extra cheese are pay-extra options.
   The carnitas burrito, with black beans, rice, lettuce, mild salsa and shredded cheddar-Monterey jack blend on flour tortilla, was good, although perhaps not worth a 35-minute wait. A less-than-five-minute quesadilla, with steak, cheese and potatoes on jalapeno cheddar tortilla, was very good.
   Hard-shell tacos, fillable with any or all of the ingredients you can put into a burrito, are expensive at Flying Burrito Co. prices -- three for $4.99 vegetable, $5.29 chicken, beef or carnitas, $5.69 steak or fish.
   The one thing that absolutely makes a trip to Flying Burrito Co. worthwhile is the wonderful guacamole, chunky, with enough garlic, citrus and spices to tingle the tongue but not disguise the taste or texture of avocados -- 79 cents for a tiny side cup, or $4.49 for a decentsize foam cup.
   The smallish L-shaped dining area offers seating at scruffy second-hand tables in pewlike benches or oddly matched black-painted chairs (captain's chairs dominate, but we noticed other styles as well), or near the roll-up garage-style windows, in old-style woodback booths or small black plastic-covered tables.
   -- Eric E. Harrison
   

TACO BUENO
   
10114 Mabelvale Plaza Drive at Base Line Road, Little Rock, (501) 562-0390 ; www.tacobueno.com. Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, drive-through open until 1 a.m.
   Now there's a southwest Little Rock alternative to Taco Bell if you want (relatively) inexpensive quasi-Mexican food -- especially in the wee hours when you're willing to put up with the indignities of using the drive-through because you're hungry and that's what's available in the wee hours.
   Taco Bueno, a national chain, recently opened its first Arkansas outlet in Mabelvale Plaza, Base Line Road and Interstate 30. The chain's slogan -- "More Bueno" -- is enough to make any Spanish speaker blanch, but we did notice some Hispanics among the staff. (Can't honestly say we've ever seen Hispanics working at any Taco Bell this side of San Francisco.)
   The menu offers a slightly wider variety of Tex-Mex menu items, including quesadillas, taquitos, "muchacos" (a sort of pita-bread taco) and "chiladas." By and large, most of the ingredients taste fresher than they do at Taco Bell -- the ground beef, for example, is not as greasy -- and you can top off your burritos, tacos, etc., with pico de gallo, onions and two kinds of red salsa from a little salsa bar.
   The B eef Nacho Salad ($2.39), a sort of combination of nachos and taco salad, was tasty enough, although not especially thrilling -- lettuce, the nongreasy ground beef (or grilled chicken), mild chili sauce, queso, shredded cheddar and tomatoes atop triangular yellow-corn tortilla chips. The crispy beef taco -- fairly firm shell, ground beef, lettuce, a little grated cheddar -- benefited from adding a little pico de gallo.
   The Sour Cream Chicken Chilada platter ($4.99), two flour tortillas wrapping grilled chicken and topped with a sourcream sauce dusted with paprika or powdered red pepper (which didn't particularly affect the taste) is kind of bland, but not really bland. Our biggest problem with it was deciding whether the chicken bits were "real" or processed -- judging from the look and texture, we were betting on the latter until we turned up a small bone.
   There appears to be only one way to get Taco Bueno's lively, Velveeta-smooth-textured queso as a dip: The MexiDips & Chips ($2.69), with a small fried-tortilla cup of the cheese dip, another cup of slightly dry and pasty refried beans and some sort-ofblah guacamole.
   The atmosphere is pure fastfood -- seating in hard booths with Formica-like tabletops. The predominant color is red, with a bit of secondary yellow.
   -- Eric E. Harrison

This story was published Friday, July 07, 2006