Making reservations at a restaurant used to involve the "cumbersome" process of picking up the phone, dialing the number and dealing with a real, live human being, or worse, having to leave a message on the answering machine.
   In many bigger cities, that's passe. The hip way to make reservations is to log onto your computer, go to the restaurant's Web site and make the reservation online.
   In addition to not having to worry about whether somebody at the restaurant checks the answering machine for reservations, you can make yours at any hour of the day or night.
   Arkansas restaurants are still behind the curve, but four high-end eating establishments in the state have gotten aboard opentable.com (www.opentable.com/rest_list. aspx?m=95), three in Little Rock and one in Fayetteville.
   The Little Rock establishments are:
   

Ferneau
, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd., in Little Rock's Hillcrest neighborhood.
   

Nu Cuisine-Lounge
, 225 E. Markham St., downtown Little Rock
   

Capriccio Grill
in the Peabody Little Rock hotel, West Markham and Louisiana streets, also in downtown Little Rock.
   The one Fayetteville restaurant is

Bordinos
, 310 W. Dickson St.
   For each restaurant, the site provides a calendar setting for making reservations for specific dates, times and party size; a description of the restaurant, provided by the restaurant; descriptions of dining style, cuisine and price range; a capsule map and the nearest cross street; Web site and e-mail addresses; telephone number; hours of operation; the credit cards the restaurant accepts; and additional information, such as whether there is entertainment and the name of the executive chef.
   You can use opentable.com to make online reservations at more than 6,000 restaurants across the country.
   Ferneau, Bordinos and Capriccio also accept online reservations on their own sites -- www.fer neaurestaurant.com/reserva tions.html, www.bordinos. com/reservations.html and www.peabodylittlerock.com/ dining/dining.cfm, respectively.
   Other central Arkansas restaurants that make reservations available online:
   Gypsy's

Grill
: www.gypsysgrill. com
   

Ristorante Capeo
: www.capeo. us
   

Terrace on the Green:
www.the terracerestaurant.com/reserve. html
   Mike's

Place
in Conway -- www.mikesplaceconway. com/news2.htm -- offers online reservation contracts for its party rooms. Dish is a monthly look at the business end of the central Arkansas restaurant business. Send ideas, notices of new restaurant openings, closings, menu and staff changes to Restaurants, Weekend Section, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; call (501) 399-3667 ; or send e-mail to:
   

eharrison@arkansasonline.com

This story was published Friday, January 05, 2007