Come to The Cabaret!

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New York City restaurant tips you won't find in any New York restaurant guide:

1) For the finest beef kabob in a three-block radius, try the Asian Appetizers at Freddy's Song of Singapore Cafe. 2) At Steve McGraw's, munch on Jinx's '50s-style Rice Krispie Treats. You'll go snap crackle doo-wop! 3) The barbecued chicken is tangy at the Blue Angel, a stone's throw from Times Square. 4) Sip an oversize Manhattan -- the cocktail of choice for sophisticated Gothamites -- at Theater East. 5) Adam's Apple offers salad, shrimp, chicken and ice cream -- cafeteria food at its most authentic! 6) At the Village Gate, savor the gooey goodness of the Fluffernutter sandwiches, just like Mom used to make -- in a brown paper bag.

Oh, and not at all by the way, they also serve theater at these bistros and boites. It's the latest, cheeriest and, for the consumer, most economical show-biz trend: Silly Cabaret. How silly? Audiences get to be part of the foolishness. They can join a conga line at Song of Singapore (1), play Heart and Soul with the nerdish vocal quartet in Forever Plaid (2), be a beauty- contest judge at Pageant (3), hum along at Forbidden Broadway 1991 1/2 (4), be a suspect in the whodunit plot at a Hasselfree murder mystery (5) or stand to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at Prom Queens Unchained (6). For warm- weather theatergoers in search of an easy evening out, the shows provide organized fun with a hip parodic wink -- a blend of summer camp and . . . summer camp.

To catch participatory theater, play-goers needn't come to New York. It's in venues around the country. Tamara, the Canadian play that leads audiences on a chase through a villa in pursuit of sex and intrigue, is the longest-running show in Los Angeles history (seven years); it also did a 2 1/2-year stint in Manhattan. Shear Madness, a mystery comedy in which audience members give suspects the third degree, has run in Boston for 11 years, Chicago for nine and Washington for three. San Diego, Houston, Miami and Philadelphia all boast dine-and-deduce thrillers. In Tony n' Tina's Wedding, revelers trek from a marriage ceremony at a real church to a contentious reception at a nearby restaurant. The play, in its fourth year in New York, has mounted productions in five other cities. A similar show, Frankie and Angie Get Married, is a solid Atlanta hit.

New York, though, is cabaret Mecca these days -- a ripe satisfaction for the creators, some of whom toiled five or six years to put on their show. Forever Plaid, a year old, has built a coterie of fans; President Bush's brother Jonathan has seen the show seven times and held his birthday party there. "It's no longer enough to go to the theater and just sit and stare," says Jonathan Scharer, producer of Pageant and Forbidden Broadway. "People have more fun when they can have a drink and relax, cool off and feel comfortable."