One Hot Saturday in June…

Yesterday, the third Saturday in June, we went to Cape Girardeau, Missouri to visit our daughter. Sam is going to school in Cape and is staying there over the summer to work and take a summer class. Our first task was to meet up with her at the Cape Riverfront Market; this is a farmers market in downtown Cape. The market is small with about 30 booths, but very nice. There were several vendors selling handcrafted items including baked goods, soaps, jewelry and garden decorator items, but for the most part it was fresh vegetables and fruit. There was an abundance of corn and peaches. Sam volunteers each week there at the information table. Find them at http://caperiverfrontmarket.com or http://www.facebook.com/CapeRiverfrontMarket.
Our main reason for the visit was to spend some time with Sam and to take her and her boyfriend, Alex to Lambert’s Café in Sikeston, Missouri about 30 minutes away from Cape. This restaurant is known for its throwed rolls. Do NOT correct my grammar – they call them throwed rolls, it’s their word not mine.  We arrived at 1:15 p.m. for lunch. Had it not been our ultimate destination we may have turned around and left as there were probably over 200 people lined up outside and another 60 inside. They were giving out numbers and they were calling number 135 when we walked in and we’d been given number 213 when we signed in out front. There are two separate dining rooms and the tables were called quickly. Nonetheless the wait for our table was about an hour during which we talked a little and Sam and her boyfriend played a game on their phones.
The concept of this restaurant is that you order an entrée plate and have a choice of sides but while at your table individuals come around and offer you unlimited sides of potato and onion, macaroni and tomato (which had a dressing that tasted much like the Pepper and Onion Relish from Harry and David), black-eyed peas and fried okra. As well, they serve rolls that are huge and can be eaten with butter on the table or apple butter or sorghum molasses delivered at your table. Read more about it on their website at: http://www.throwedrolls.com/default.asp.
The husband had a special of the day which was Chicken Pot Pie at $10.95 with two sides. Sam had fried chicken which showed up as a four pieces of chicken with two sides for $12.95. Alex, her boyfriend, had the Fried Round Steak which was like Chicken Fried Steak topped with mashed potatoes and country gravy plus two additional sides for $12.95. Then I had fried pork chops with three sides for $12.95.  I failed to take any pictures.  I only thought about it after we’d started eating and I didn’t want to show you partially eaten food, that’s disgusting.
The sides we had included sliced beets, baby carrots, baked apples, sliced peaches. The meal was tasty and completely filling except my husband complained that the Chicken Pot Pie was small. However, not until he’d had some of Sam’s fried chicken did the waiter come around and ask if we wanted any reorders. Apparently if you finish your plate you can order items that you purchased – but double-check to make sure these are free refills. As we didn’t take advantage of it, I can’t confirm they are free, but it sounded as if they were.  Also, they don’t take reservations, nor do they take credit cards.  They say on their website that they take checks and they did have an ATM in the lobby of the Sikeston location.
So, now the fun stuff of the day. Sam loves the whole throwed rolls concept of this restaurant. She’s gone with college mates here before. The last time she ended up mishandling a roll and ended up getting hit in the face with it and having it explode all over. So today was her chance to redeem herself. The throwed roll attendant was pushing the roll trolley all the way across the dining room. Sam could not wait for him to come across the room, so when she saw him she raised her hands indicating she was ready for a roll. He nodded to her in acknowledgement of her request. He arched his arm back much like a major league baseball pitcher. He released the roll at lightning speed, it whizzed through the air, and smashed into Sam’s waiting hands from at least 35 feet away. The sound of the roll hitting her hands sounded much like a Jason Motte fastball slamming into Yadier Molina’s mitt (Go Cardinals!). The crowd erupted with cheers – okay that last part was in my head, but at our table we were amazed at Sam’s fielding ability and told her so.