Think of restaurants you've been to that stand out from the crowd. It can be a chain or a one-off, fancy or plain Jane. What made it different or special? And it can be a good or a bad thing.
Two places in particular stand out in my mind...I'll discuss one now and the other later.
The first is a place called
Lambert's Cafe, with three locations: Sikeston, MO (halfway between St. Louis and Memphis); Ozark, MO (just south of Springfield); and Foley, AL (just north of Gulf Shores). I visited the original in Sikeston on several occasions while a student at Southeast MO State, and went to the Ozark location once while in Branson.
Lambert's is known as the Home of the Throwed Rolls. The rolls are softball-sized and taste delicious. If you want one, just holler, and it's thrown to you from wherever the rollholder is standing...he could be 5 feet away, 10 feet away or all the way across the dining room. When I took my family there in '95, my mom got popped in the head by one shortly after we sat down...obviously her reflexes aren't as good in her old age.
Another staff member will come around offering to top your roll with sorghum...never had it (that I know of) before going to Lambert's, but it's quite good.
Then there are the Pass Arounds. The staff comes around with large bowls filled with Southern staples: fried potatoes & onions, macaroni & tomatoes, black-eyed peas and fried okra. Eat as much as you want. And don't worry...they're not thrown at you.
But make sure you save room for the actual meals: oh my God-sized portions of food, like Chicken & Dumplings, Country Fried Steak and Barbeque Pork Steak, served up with two vegetables of your choice and a drink.
And did I mention that the prices are cheap?
Sadly, I haven't had a chance to get down to Sikeston the last two times I've been back to St. Louis...but I'll have two more chances this year, as I'll be heading back out there sometime during the summer and again at Xmas.
If you're ever near one of the three above-mentioned towns and you're willing to kick Atkins or any other diet to the curb for a few hours, do yourself a favor and chow down at Lambert's.