Home of the Throwed Rolls and Throwed Diets

On the final day of our family vacation to Orange Beach, Al., we decided to visit Lambert's Cafe III, "Home of the Throwed Rolls!", in nearby Foley.   Lamberts Cafe was founded in Sikeston, Mo. in 1942 and is currently celebrating its 70th anniversary.  The Lambert's "throwed rolls" tradition got started when Norman Lambert couldn't get to an impatient customer with a roll and the customer hollered "Just throw the %!&$!!! thing!"  Norman did, and Lambert's personnel have been doing it ever since, much to the delight of one and all.  In 1994, Lambert's Cafe II opened just south of Springfield in Ozark, Mo.  On June 24, 1996, Lambert's Cafe III  opened in Foley, this time without Norman.  Norman passed away two weeks earlier on June 10, 1996. 

Our first experience with Lambert's was on a basketball roadtrip to southern Illinois in the early '90's. We decided to have an early dinner and try out Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston, Mo.  After we placed our order, something unusual began to happen.  Waiters and waitresses began to come by and offer us free food.  Not just tiny samples . . . a full portion.  Fried okra, fried potatoes, black-eyed peas, macaroni and tomatoes . . .  and every so often a huge roll would come flying in our direction.   Next thing we knew the owner, Norman Ray Lambert, was at our table and struck up a conversation. 

"You folks ever had chitlins?" he asked. 

"Nope".  Next thing we knew a plate of chitlins was on our table, compliments of Mr. Lambert.  It was like thick-sliced, very crispy bacon.   

"You folks ever eaten a hubcap?"  he asked. 

"Nope".

Before we knew it everyone at our table had a hubcap.  At Lambert's, a "hubcab" is a cinnamon roll the size of a dinner plate.  We were stuffed before the food we had ordered arrived.  A few years later, Norman Ray Lambert came to Springfield and opened Lambert's II.  I like to think our hearty appetites influenced his decision.

Lambert's Cafe's I, II, and III have been enormously successful.  The food is great, true.  But instead of ONE golden rule, Norman had 13.  Here they are:

1.  As the Bible says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
2.  Always offer our guest at least one service they can't receive anywhere else.
3.  You, our guest, are very important, you are the reason we are here! THANK YOU!
 4.  We need you, our guest, much more than we need ourselves.
5.  You, our guest, are always right.
6.  It's our job to take care of you, if we don't someone else will.
7.  If we make a mistake, we will correct it immediately!
8.  Our simple but powerful rule: Always give you, our guest, more than you expect to get.
9.  You are our guest; guests in our home, not clients or customers, but guests.
10. Good enough for some is not good enough for us.                       
11. The difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary, is: give that little extra.
12. Quality rather than quantity matters, we offer BOTH.
13. We do simple things, but in exceptional ways!

MY two rules for eating at Lambert's are:

1.  Don't come if you are in a hurry.  A one hour wait is not uncommon.

2.  Do come if you hungry and want a good time!  It is darn near impossible to LEAVE hungry or not smiling.

My wife only has one rule for eating at Lamberts:

1.  Calories consumed on vacation don't count.




Norman Ray Lambert grave site (1933-1996) Chucking dinner rolls throughout eternity