150 years after the Missouri Compromise, there's stil some question about where the state fits in exactly. Missouri got slaves and Kansas didn't, but during the Civil War, allegiances were as clear as the Muddy Mississippi. The governor wanted to secede, the legislature didn't, and the capital(s) and various armies danced around the state for a few years. And, oh yeah, it was northern Missouri that sided with the South, because that region is in the flood plain of the Missouri River, an agricultural area that gave rise to plantations. Southern Missouri, with its Ozark Mountains and rocky soil, could care less about a slave economy, and with mining industry, it was more aligned with the Union.
But for me today, driving down the Mississippi, the South begins in Sikeston, Missouri, near the Boot Heel. That's where you find Lambert's Cafe, "Home of the Throwed Rolls."
And, yes, the rolls are throwed.
It may be a gimmick, but it's one that works, keeping this 60-year-old institution packed at all hours from travellers on I-55. And you have to admit, with old-fashioned Southern cooking, all the rolls you can catch, and free "Pass Arounds" such as fried okra, macaroni and tomatoes, and black eyed peas, Lambert's is an experience not to be missed.
Hopefully we won't be too stuffed to get up from our seats.
Miles: 5632
Posted by yozhik at July 31, 2003 05:32 PM