Happy birthday, Josie!

Hi everyone,

Yesterday we celebrated the 28th birthday of JOSIE SHUTE. It was the first time that Josie had ever been 28 and the first time that SANDY and I had ever been to Lambert’s Café, Home of Throwed Rolls, in Ozark, Missouri. If you don’t know about Lambert’s, please look it up. I haven’t the space here to describe it all although the name of the place gives you the first clue of a restaurant where chaos is organized and so much food flows that the very air is caloric. The first thing you notice about Lambert’s is the line waiting to get it. The second is that you’re now part of the line.

Our line started with grandsons KRIS and TYLER, three pretty women, SANDY, ROBIN, and JOSIE, son-in-law TIM, and the bewildered one on the end would be me. We were still outside, it was windy and raining. I don’t know if that was part of their marketing strategy, but it sure made me want to make it inside.

The wait was short, we were soon inside and seated, and the fun began. It sounded like a rumbling stomach in there. A roll thrower was firing away halfway across the room at people with their hands out to catch him. He was deadly accurate and the only roll I saw dropped the whole time we were there was the one I dropped — from a foot away. Ah come on, who knew the guy, who was standing behind my back, wasn’t going to just hand me the roll?

Here’s the birthday girl with Tyler (her sweetie) to her right and Kris on her left. I would have told Kris to take off the cap indoors but several of waiters were wearing caps so what could I say? He got by with a freebie.

Thank you, Tim and Robin, for treating us to more than a mere birthday party. Now we can tell people we’ve eaten and eaten and eaten and eaten at Lambert’s.