Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 8, 1994                   TAG: 9405170006
SECTION: DISCOVER NRV                    PAGE: 60   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AND HERE'S WHAT YOU SAID YOU LIKE ABOUT THE SOUTH

Tabulating the results was like watching the ponies pound down the backstretch toward the Kentucky Derby's finish line.

Winner by a length was Christiansburg's Country Kitchen, followed closely by the Cracker Barrel. Tied for third were The Homeplace and Stone's Cafeteria.

We didn't ask readers to define Southern cooking. Judging from the returns, however, and the character of the restaurants they favored, your average New River Valley resident considers Southern cooking to be good food and a whole lot of it.

General Lee's rag-tag, scrawny rebel troops put up a heck of a fight during the War of Northern Aggression. But local folks are right there with Miss Scarlet O'Hara, swearing that when they go out to eat Southern cooking, they'll never go hungry again.

"The only thing I could say is that it's nothing fancy, just good home-cooked food," said Dorothy Hawley, co-owner of Country Kitchen. "I wouldn't know how to describe it otherwise."

Hawley agreed that it's difficult to call a restaurant's cuisine "Southern" unless grits appear somewhere on the breakfast menu

"We get a lot of calls for that," she said.

Other important qualifications include the option of staples such as corn bread, biscuits, fried chicken, yams, green beans (cooked with side meat, of course), iced tea, black-eyed peas, red-eye gravy, catfish and even fried okra.

But a menu's strictly optional at several of these restaurants.

At Country Kitchen, all you have to do is have a seat, say the word "buffet" to a waitress, and - faster than you can say "Goo Goo Cluster" - you're good to go.

The Homeplace serves homestyle, which means menu options are limited but quantities aren't.

(It's true that The Homeplace, located near Catawba, is technically not in the New River Valley. But we decided to include it because, after all, it is on Blacksburg Road.)

Stone's is a member of that cherished yet vanishing breed, the cafeteria. It offers an "actual reality" menu, meaning you can see your food when you order it and then you can actually eat it.

Informality seems to be another common characteristic of Southern cooking favorites. No maitre d', no linen napkins, no wine list - just lots of big tables to hunker down around, tribal-style.

If there's a crowd at The Homeplace, which there usually is, you get to linger on the porch of the beautiful old house that contains the restaurant and admire the lovely view. Or use the porch swing.

You can count on eating your meal in security at the Country Kitchen, a very popular location among state and local police officers for breakfast or lunch.

On the other hand, it's probably a bad idea to eat there if you're a criminal - although the last meal you get before the police arrest you will be a good one.

Lastly, Southern cooking ain't Southern unless you have the option of eating too much.

How much is too much?

Enough at the end of the meal to make you groan, vow "never again," and announce your immediate and irrevocable plans to begin a diet, all while patting your protruding belly contentedly.

Often overlooked as a feature of Southern-style restaurants is the quality of the final course - the toothpick.

Some places will serve a flimsy shard that splinters within minutes of being soaked in saliva.

At the best Southern restaurants, you don't need to have your toothpick sealed in one of those tiny cellophane packets. Their toothpicks, made of wood from the petrified forest, are strong enough to last the entire afternoon.

I guarantee, that's what we like about the South.