OZARK MOUNTAIN COUNTRY
   RESTAURANT
   
201 Keightly Drive, Little Rock, (501) 663-7319. Open 7 a.m.-1 :30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
   

Food:
Judging from the breakfast menu, you'd expect to see lumberjacks packing away the chow at Ozark Mountain Country Restaurant. Little is light about the morning fare at this popular Little Rock eatery. The Garden Omelet is a partial concession to the cholesterol-fretful ; its ingredients include green peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms. More attuned to the eatery's tenor is the Country Omelet, filled with smoked ham and smoked cheese. The menu's headline dish is the Ozark Country Breakfast -- two fried or scrambled eggs; bacon, ham or sausage; and hash browns, biscuit and gravy. The restaurant also does a superlative job on pancakes. Sandwiches are available at lunchtime.
   

Mood:
The open kitchen predates the recent fashion for stylish cooking layouts that spotlight hotshot chefs. The setup here is simply the absence of a partition between the dining area (five booths, nine tables) and the no-nonsense cooking area. The rough flagstone floor and the wall paneling add to the homespun feel. One slightly tacky touch is the bowl of ketchup mini-packets on each table in lieu of a ketchup bottle.
   

Moolah:
Breakfast with coffee runs $7 to $10. Juice adds another $1.50 to $2. You'll probably need only one more meal the rest of the day.
   -- Jack Schnedler
   

TASTE OF D-LIGHT
   
3200 N. Reynolds Road, Bryant, (501) 847-6267. Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday ; 11 a.m.-9 :30 p.m. Friday-Saturday.
   

Food:
A Bryant restaurant that has been open for nine years, Taste of D-Light serves generous portions of Chinese and Vietnamese food during the week with a lunch buffet on Sunday. Standouts include the House Chicken, thick chunks of chicken and big pieces of shrimp breaded and fried and covered in a sweet soy sauce along with snow peas, onion, bell pepper and water chestnuts and the spicy Four Delights of Kung Pau ($10.95) which includes shrimp, beef, scallops and chicken. Don't miss the crab rangoons, hot, creamy, not too greasy and stuffed to the brim with sweet goodness.
   

Mood:
The restaurant has a distinctly Far East feel to the outside with a well-manicured lawn and flowery fountain, and on the inside with framed, glittery Oriental dresses on the walls.
   

Moolah:
Plenty of entrees are available for less than $10. Each entree can be made into a Complete Dinner for $2.30 more and includes soup and one each of egg roll, crab rangoon, chicken wing and dessert. The Sunday buffet costs $8.60 or $9.60 with a drink.
   -- Melissa Tucker
   GINA'S

SUSHI & GRILL
   
9108 N. Rodney Parham Road (Ashley Square Shopping Center), Little Rock, (501) 223-0808. Open 11 a.m.-9 :30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.
   

Food:
For a petite restaurant, the Japanese menu is plentiful and so are the portions. Entrees include sushi assortments; hibachi dinners; bento box combinations; and teriyaki, kebab, tempura and kushiyaki dinners; and all feature a hearty amount of food preceded by soup and salad (all dinners, except sushi dinners, come with rice; bento boxes come with California rolls). Featuring tender and toothsome chunks of meat and vegetables, the hibachi dinners are satisfying. The chicken teriyaki is a bit sauce-heavy, but the sushi and sashimi are fresh and prettily presented.
   

Mood: Gina's
, which has a handful of tables and seats at a small sushi bar, is homey and cozy. There are no dinnertime crowds, at least not yet. There are no blaring birthday celebrations. The restaurant, decorated minimally with paper lanterns and a burbling fountain near the front, is the kind of place one goes when food and friendliness matter more than fanfare.
   

Moolah:
Dinner entrees range from $7.95 to $23.95, and lunch entrees range from $4.95 to $12.95.
   -- Jennifer Christman

ROMA ITALIAN RESTAURANT
Quicksilver Plaza, Suite Q, 2650 John Harden Drive, Jacksonville, (501) 982-8055. Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-9 :30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
   

Food:
Billing itself as "Jacksonville's only authentic Italian" restaurant, Roma serves hearty entrees of pasta and other specialties. The Linguini Tuttamare is an almost outrageous amount of seafood -- mussels, shrimp, scallops, calamari and baby clams -- in a mild white wine-garlic-olive oil sauce over linguine noodles. The lasagna features firm noodles layered with meat and mozzarella and marinara. The absolute best thing we experienced at Roma was the pizza. The crust is of hand-thrown texture, firm on the bottom without being crispy, but crisp at the edges, with plenty of garlic in the minimal sauce, not a lot of cheese but lots of toppings.
   

Mood:
If you're unfamiliar with Jacksonville, Roma could be a little hard to find. Walls are painted in Italian flag colors: red, white and green. Seating is at cafeteria-type tables and chairs with the tables clad in plasticized, cream-swirl tablecloths.
   

Moolah:
Prices are bargain to moderate with most meals under $10. -- Eric E. Harrison

This story was published Friday, November 03, 2006