Have It Your Way

Cook-it-yourself restaurants are booming, as heartland diners discover it's fun to play with food

The ladies were stumped. Cheryl Spangler, Valeria Borunda-Jameson and Susan Puckett, three college-admissions workers on a training visit to Florence, Ky., had sauntered into a local barbecue joint called Chung Kiwha. But instead of sauce-slathered mutton served up from the kitchen, they saw a buffet of uncooked meats and vegetables. Instead of knives and forks, they were given large scissors, chopsticks and metal tongs. No candle flickered at their table, but a bucket of fiery wood charcoal hissed in the tabletop grill pit. Chung Kiwha served barbecue, all right--cook-it-yourself Korean barbecue. "I didn't realize there were restaurants like this," marveled Spangler...

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