Salad Bar

What used to be the bar and lounge at the Parkway Room is now the dining room. And what had been the dining area is now the restaurant's bar and lounge. Oh, yes, one other thing: the name has been changed to Cafe Adesso. Along with all of the physical changes, which make for a brighter and more attractive restaurant, the menu has also undergone minor remodeling. Some items have been deleted, others added. Though the emphasis is still on seafood, there are a number of pasta specialties I don't recall from my long-ago visits.

Most restaurants just ask you how you would like your steak done. At the Library II, on Route 73 in Voorhees, they also ask you how large you'd like it to be. Twelve ounces? A pound? More? Some diners order steaks as large as 24 to 30 ounces. Then it's sliced and sent on its way. It is interesting to note that in a time when cholesterol seems to be on everyone's mind - as well as in the arteries - here's a place that packs diners in as tight as cattle at the old Chicago stockyard.

Boldly declaring itself to be a place that provides "spirited fun," the new Main Lion bar-restaurant has something for everyone. The place opened in March at the site of the old Covered Wagon Inn in Strafford with three separate food operations - a large dining room with a limited menu featuring superb steak-by-the-ounce, a late-hours cafe with informal snack food and a delicatessen and retail shop where you can buy expensive vinegars, mustards and...

When is a diner not really a diner? When it's the Forum at Diamond II, in Gloucester Township. As even the most casual observer probably could point out, the old stainless-steel railroad-car diners that once dotted the South Jersey landscape have given way to modern, state-of-the-art dining establishments. The Forum goes a step further. Until recently, it was known simply as the Diamond II Diner. It served a variety of quality choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner at competitive prices.

In keeping with the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, I visited Mickey Cavanaugh's at 23d and Sansom Streets, a restaurant-saloon that is as much an Irish tradition in Philadelphia as corned beef and cabbage is among lovers of all things Gaelic. To the uninitiated, Cavanaugh's might appear as nothing more than a neighborhood tappie with some tables in the back. What first meets the eye is a bar area painted a green that can only be distantly associated with the Emerald Isle. Little else lends a clue to the legitimacy of the place.

The Tandoor India Restaurant in West Philadelphia had a rather unusual item in its salad bar last night - a guy who had just jumped through the skylight. He landed there after police confronted him on a third-floor roof. "I hear a loud crash and I see this guy spread-eagle in the salad," said Sgt. Nick Mancini. "He had all types of fruit all over him. " Despite his sudden entry onto the menu, the man didn't seem to be in bad shape. "For a few seconds, he wasn't moving," Mancini said, "then he started to get up, and he said, 'I just want to leave.

The road movie has become a path rutted with familiarity. In taking an elephant walk in Larger Than Life, Bill Murray promises a whole new direction but ends up going pretty much nowhere. Larger Than Life follows in the large footsteps of Operation Dumbo Drop. The Disney comedy, set during the Vietnam War, dropped an elephant in the war zone on the reasonable assumption that after the megatonnage of bombs unloaded by the United States, no one would notice. With Larger Than Life, it would be reasonable to assume that Murray, owner of the deadest pan in the business, could put a little more pep in pachyderm humor than Ray Liotta and Danny Glover managed in Operation Dumbo Drop.

Here are the four magic words at the shore: All You Can Eat. Some of the cheapest, most plentiful meals in South Jersey are lined up on the buffet tables in Atlantic City casinos. Here's where you can eat. And eat. And eat. Atlantic City Hilton's Cornucopia Buffet. The land and sea buffet offers fresh fish, steamed clams, rotisserie turkey and chicken. Open 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Friday, until 10 p.m. Saturday. $14.99 weekdays, $15.99 weekends. Bally's Park Place Sidewalk Buffet.

Amazing. After nearly four years, the Chart House - a chain restaurant, no less - is still securely moored along Delaware Avenue near Lombard Street, and is doing a tidal wave of business. In that time, a number of city restaurants have foundered and drifted off into the sunset. Why the contrast? A good question, for which there seem to be some good answers. For one thing, the Chart House menu does not rock the boat - nothing tricky or trendy, just good-quality steaks, ribs, fish and seafood.

Were it not for a marvelous salad bar with unusual selections, Bookers New England Chowder House in Ocean City would be just like many other summer shore restaurants where you find a rudimentary decor, stifling crowds, pleasant service from college students and a culinary emphasis on fried seafood. But the salad bar makes Bookers special, for beneath the warming red- colored lamps are such delights as homemade chili, a vat of melted cheese with nachos chips, cocktail hot dogs in a moderately tangy sauce, spinach linguine in butter and crisp Caesar salad with fried toast points and freshly grated Parmesan.