Throw Me A Roll!

On the way back from Memphis, we stopped off at Lambert's Cafe for lunch. This was recommended by our neighbours, Sandy & Gerry, & is the home of throwed rolls.

The restaurant serves traditional 'home style' food with free 'pass arounds'. These include fried okra, fried potatoes, macaroni & tomatoes, black eyed peas, & sorghum & honey, & are brought to the table by servers who are just walking around the restaurant with huge pots of the pass arounds, serving them to anyone that wants some (the fried okra was good, but the fried potatoes were the best). However, the real attraction are the hot bread rolls that are throwed at you from wherever the server with the rolls is in the restaurant.

Lambert's gets through quite a few rolls, with their ovens operating from 9:15 am to 9:00 pm (usually without stopping) each day. Last year they averaged baking 520 dozen rolls per day, for a grand total of 2,246,400 individual rolls in the year. The rolls are 5 inches in diameter & if they laid all the rolls that they baked in one year side by side, they would have 177 miles of rolls! In the past year the restaurant has used 15,900 gallons of milk, cooked 368,940 eggs, 132,743 lbs of choice round beef, 253,980 lbs of chicken, 48,409 lbs of Mississippi pond raised catfish, 73,440 lbs of Arkansas okra, baked over 68,000 potatoes, along with 33 tons of French fries, 130,480 pounds of onions, served 71,900 pork chops, 52,322 lbs. of ham, country ham, & pork steak, & 48,960 lbs. of white beans.

We got to the restaurant at about 11:30 am, but had to wait about half an hour for a table. By the time that we left the restaurant, the line to get in was event longer - it sure is a popular place!