MORRISTOWN —Yabba-dabba-doo.

Just thought I'd get you in the right frame of mind for Bedrock Café, "The Place That Rocks." Yep, it says that right on the front of the menu. It's a fairly new place just outside Morristown on Route 37 on the way to Ogdensburg.

It's a nice, new building that looks a lot like a house on the outside. It's very clean and attractive on the inside — booths to the right, a granite-looking breakfast-lunch counter to the left, several tables scattered around in between.

Your eye is immediately drawn to two doors straight ahead labeled "pebbles" and "rocks." We assume they're the ladies' and men's rooms, respectively. To the left there's a sign by the counter that reads "Notice: Sexual harassment will not be tolerated here. It will be graded."

The flat-screen TV over the counter was competing with the country music on the overhead sound system. You'd think they'd be playing rock music instead. (Get it?)

Back to the menu, we learn that the restaurant is also "Home of Goldies Trucking and Excavating." There's an ad right there that says so. Now the whole bedrock-pebbles-rocks-Flintstone thing is starting to make more sense.

There were no tables for five, so we put one together ourselves. It was a Friday night and the place was a bit busy. When our waitress finally made it to our table, she began with, "I just want to let you know, this is only my second night here."

No problem. We'll all get through this OK.

The menu says "All Food Prepared Fresh On Site." Excellent.

We started with appetizers. Through the open door to the kitchen, I watched the cook go to the freezer and pull out the onion rings ($4.75) and breaded mushrooms ($4.50). You could hear the grease bubbling as she lowered them into the hot fryer. We did enjoy the slight spiciness to the onion ring batter. Mushrooms were standard fare.

Chicken and cheese quesadilla ($6.95) was decent and made fresh. It wasn't served with sour cream and salsa like we were expecting. New England clam chowder ($2.99) tasted fishy enough, but also tasted like it was synthetically thickened.

We tried the breaded, deep-fried green beans with wasabi offered on the specials board. This was a neat and different appetizer that reminded us of the product served at T.G.I. Friday's.

Uh-oh. Here's comes the cook, to apologize personally for the delay in getting the appetizers out. "I use real chicken in the quesadilla and cook it to order, so it takes a little time."

She also talked up a dinner special — "Sicilian fish" — baked haddock topped with "bruschetta-like chopped tomatoes and cheese." Sounded good.

We found out that the cook, Wendy Goldie, is also the owner. The same Wendy of "Wendy's Wonderful Pies" that are advertised more than once in the menu that encompasses breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A basket of big, moist dinner rolls arrived with our salads. The rolls were stone cold. (Get it?) We sent them back to be warmed. When they returned, we found them most enjoyable.

Salads were excellent, served in square wooden bowls, overflowing with romaine and iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, tiny grape tomatoes, green pepper, Mandarin oranges and fabulous buttery-garlicky croutons that we figured were made right there.

Blue cheese is an additional 63 cents. How did they come up with that number?

Dinner choices seem a little lean, especially compared to breakfast and lunch selections: four pasta dishes, two fish and two beef — plus several "In a basket" fried-food artery cloggers.

Food arrived in stages. First, the broiled seafood platter ($18.95), consisting of shrimp in a boat, floating in an abundance of garlic butter, a small dish of bay scallops in a watery liquid and a piece of haddock all by itself.

Sicilian haddock ($13.95) was next. It wasn't quite as good as it sounded. There was balsamic vinegar in the tomato topping that just didn't seem to work with the fish. In fact, it was quite distracting.

Chicken fettuccini Alfredo ($12.95) could have been a little creamier, and could have been made with fettuccini rather than spaghetti. We appreciated that the chicken was grilled, although it appeared to be mostly dark meat.

The rib-eye steak comes in two sizes, as does prime rib: queen and king. We asked our waitress what the difference was between queen and king, and she replied, with a smile, "the size." Then elaborated, "10-ounce and 14-ounce."

Queen is $16.95 and king is $17.95. No-brainer. Bring on the king.

However, right about here, things got a little rocky. (Get it?)

One beautiful rib-eye emerged from the kitchen with an apology. "I put the second one on the back of the slip and she didn't see it, so it will take a few extra minutes," said our inexperienced waitress.

But I had ordered prime rib, and when I told her, she replied "but we only serve that Saturday nights." No problem, the rib eye will be just fine.

And it was — a little undercooked, but I understood it was a rush job, and I have no problem with rare rather than medium rare. Both steaks were generous portions, good quality meat and simply seasoned with salt and pepper.

The side of mac and cheese could have been a little cheesier, we thought, but not bad.

We were told roasted potatoes were an option, but they arrived as a baked potato. (Chef Wendy informed us later it was a boiled potato, "because you just can't bake a potato at 4 o'clock and serve it at 7 o'clock"). And we had to ask for the "hand cut" fries that we had ordered, only to have them arrive on the limp and greasy side. We assumed the fryer had been turned off and the oil was not up to temp.

"Wendy's Wonderful Pies" were truly wonderful, perhaps even spectacular. They tempted us in the display case from the moment we arrived — big, tall, generous slices made even taller with gobs of whipped topping, priced at $4.99 each.

Coconut cream and lemon meringue were very good. Apple pie had an extra addition of oats on top, making it a little apple crisp-like, thoughtfully served warm.

The killer was Wendy's peanut butter pie, a light and fluffy filling topped with M&Ms. The crusts on all the pies were excellent — light and flaky like you can only get with homemade.

Dinner for five came to $152 before tip. Not exactly a rock bottom price, we felt. (Get it?)

Service was a little rough (my soup cup sat on the table right through dessert). But with more time and a little training, we feel our waitress will do just fine.

We'd go back again. But probably for breakfast. The menu looks very appealing with eggs Benedict Florentine, Mexican eggs, rib-eye steak, omelets and breakfast burritos. All the standard stuff, too, like eggs, pancakes, french toast and cereals.

No Cocoa Pebbles or Fruity Pebbles, though.

You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

Bedrock Café

3748 Route 37

Morristown

375-4230

Breakfast, lunch and dinner in a clean, comfortable new building.

HOURS: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday

7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday

Go for the salad. Go for the pies. Maybe even go for breakfast.

Rating: 2 and one-half forks