Eating Americana - three landmark food stops on the road
Three landmark food stops on the great American road trip
What are some great landmarks that offer a meal? Is there a place you’ve seen on the road that seems to have delicious grub that you’ve always wanted to try? We made three attempts in one day with a good success rate as we meandered our way from the Land of Enchantment to the Hoosier state.
Lambert’s Throwed Rolls
Our Rockwood Mini Lite outside of Lambert's in Ozarks
This is now our second time here. Lambert’s is a place that’s famous for hearty southern food and, okay who are we kidding? They’re famous for throwing rolls around the restaurant. Yeah, yeah, the food is solid southern fare and the water glasses are those huge plastic tumblers many construction workers favor but you come here for one reason.
To watch them throw rolls.
And, once again, not long after we sat down I spotted a gent pushing a big cart full of rolls through the restaurant and raised my hand as if I were flagging a taxi. This young lad must have had some pitching experience because my hot, delicious bun came flying my way and I caught it with ease.
I’ve seen some of the team at Lambert’s throw rolls from across the restaurant - it’s quite a show. Of course, if you’d rather, they’ll also just hand them to you but where’s the fun in that?
Peggy at Lambert's throwed rolls restaurant
This is just the kind of place that gets noticed by we RVers. There are lots of places that have good food and I figure the prices here are also fair. Not cheap, but not exorbitant.
There are lots of locals here, too, which I can tell because they greet one another and say things like, “I didn’t know you were coming here too.”
I first heard about Lambert’s from the Living the RV Dream podcast easily 10-12 years ago when John & Kathy Huggins spoke of it and wanted to go since then.
This is now our second time here and we stretched the day by almost 100 miles to get here. It’s just fun. But this proves that, like the Bette Midler song, you gotta get a gimmick. There are tons of places with food just as good but not worth going 100 miles out of your way for.
We have often joked about our stops at Uranus Fudge Factory. Oh, which we drove by today. It’s got a silly gimmick too. And we’ve had better fudge on Mackinack Island, but they don’t have a mayor who’s a Muffler Man or American Giant.
The Mayor of Uranus Fudge Factory
Oh, that reminds me. There was a big storm in Uranus a while back and the past couple of times we’ve driven by the Mayor has been headless. Yikes. But it seems that Mark Kline and his crew have done a masterful job of recreating the Mayor’s noggin and he’s back standing tall and wearing his patriotic cowboy hat once again.
Whew.
Though how do you make an insurance claim on your giant Mayor losing his head without chuckling a bit?
Lunch was less exciting
I had started with dinner, which was the highlight of the day. But we have also rolled through Seminole, Oklahoma a few times. In fact we even stayed there once behind a gas station at a place that seems to have tried every tourism-related business known to man.
Donut shop? Yep. Truck stop? Sure. Motel? Why not. RV park? Oh yeah. Hamburgers? Uh huh. I think the family that owns the Stuckey’s in Seminole literally read some book about what American tourists were looking for and have every item covered. Oh yeah it was a Stuckey’s too.
Their own mental health seems to be the only thing challenged by this family business - I felt badly about just how haggard they seem. But they were nice. And working like crazy on all the businesses one member of the family must have convinced them were essential for life in America.
Anyhow, we pulled off the road because Peggy had seen Robertson’s Ham Sandwiches every time we passed through there. Since that’s her grandfather’s family name, we finally were in the right place at the right time.
Robertson’s is one of those older places that has billboards up and down the highway advertising their famous ham sandwiches.
When given the choice of sandwiches I followed the billboard’s advice and got the ham. Who am I to ignore the sage advice of a string of billboards?
What I got was very thinly sliced ham and a slice of cheddar cheese on a hamburger bun. Not bad but nothing exceptional. The bun was about what you’d get at the grocery store so this really wasn’t a billboard-worthy meal.
On the plus side there was a condiment bar and, perhaps, some of my lackluster love of this lunch stemmed from having picked the wrong mustard. I should have gone with the huge container of honey mustard instead of just yellow mustard. Oh well - my fault.
There were also pickles and jalapeños and a bunch of other choices and the pickles made the cut and were good.
No complaints but the billboards had me convinced I was going to get something more worthy of sharing with you all.
The beautiful Conoco Station in Shamrock Texas with neon aglow
Miss information
We started our day with the last place on this list - the U-Drop-Inn cafe in Shamrock, Texas.
This place has all the right ingredients - it’s in the beautiful Conoco gas station that was stunning when new and has been wonderfully restored complete with a lot of green neon that lights up the night sky.
People from all over the world stop by to cup their hands and look in the windows. And they have a clever name.
So whoever runs this place really either doesn’t care or just doesn’t understand having a gimmick. This place has one and they could play it up with nostalgic uniforms, music and food items.
But every time we’ve been there during their normal hours of operation, someone forgot to tell the staff. I have never ever seen this place open, even though they claim to have regular hours.
This time we chose to indulge and have breakfast there and went to the station at the predetermined hours, as stated on their Facebook Page. However, a sign in the window later revealed that they don’t start serving breakfast until 10am during winter hours.
Sheesh.
Not that there’s no customers in town, this is just the kind of local place that, given the right menu and value, the crowd that was at the McDonald’s down the street would flock to.
I used to do a customer service blog in a small town and something I realized is that some people wanted a job but couldn’t find one so they started a business. Not many of those people succeed, unfortunately.
I wish the U-Drop-Inn people success and I’d really like to try it. But ya’ just gotta unlock the doors when folks are around.
