Food Fights

Bonnie's first new collection of short stories in a decade (Too Hot and Other Maine Stories was published in 1987) is set in Alabama and filled with savory characters--kitchen workers, service staff and would-be gourmands--and zesty circumstance. The contents, appropriately dubbed ""Bill of Fare,"" offer seven delectable ""Appetizers"" (short sketches of less than a page), 11 scrumptious ""Entrees"" (full-length short stories) and two palate-pleasing ""Desserts"" (in the form of restaurant reviews). The Mobile-Birmingham environs support a remarkably diverse assortment of eateries, including Loretta's Hot-Dawg Stand, Ye Olde Beefeater Tavern, Vietnamese Than-Ho's Pizza Shop, a Tunisian cafe, Romeo's Italian and Billy's light-green cinderblock beer joint. Still, the potpourri of establishments pales in comparison to their habitues. Bonnie is a master raconteur, capturing rich Alabama dialect and depicting revealing gestures so persuasively that we utterly empathize no matter how ludicrous or heartrending his characters' predicaments. One of the ""appetizers"" features a romantic strolling guitarist who, unfortunately, taints intimate dining moments with his almost combustible halitosis. In ""Broom of Destruction,"" Mr. Pinkas's emporium is in big trouble when its chef bolts out the back door after a jealous dishwasher maniacally butchers a side of beef. Around all the culinary doings spin flirtations, billiard-table seductions, love, divorce, jealousy, rage and greed. Bonnie's colorful collection brings to mind that delicious axiom: a family restaurant is one with a different argument at every table. (May)