Beaumont Inn
Harrodsburg, Kentucky
Named one of the South’s top 20 charming inns by Southern Living Magazine, the Beaumont Inn is a historic bed-and-breakfast in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, the oldest town in the commonwealth. The inn, on a lovely, parklike property, features 31 guest rooms in three separate buildings.
Passed down through the Dedman family for five generations, the Beaumont Inn reflects the finest qualities of Kentucky culture, particularly through its food offerings. In the main dining room, guests can sample traditional Kentucky fare such as yellow-legged fried chicken, 2-year-old Kentucky cured country ham, corn pudding and cornmeal cakes. Those with a sweet tooth would be remiss not to try a bite of the restaurant’s famous orange lemon cake.
The Beaumont Inn, also an official stop along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, offers 70 distinct brands of bourbon, along with many other wines and spirits, in the nearby Old Owl Tavern. Groups can sign up for the Innkeeper’s Bourbon Tasting with owner Dixon Dedman to sample up to six of these bourbon varieties.
After dining, visitors can lounge on the rocking chairs outside, stroll down the neighboring walking trail, and admire some of the family antiques and memorabilia in the circa-1845 Main Inn building. Among the fascinating features are a baby grand from the 1860s, places in the window panes where girls once scratched their names with diamond rings and a chair used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he visited the area during the 1930s.
Lambert’s Café
Sikeston, Missouri
When guests take a seat in Lambert’s Café in Sikeston, Missouri, they can expect to see a roll or two flying across the room. Home of the “throwed roll,” the restaurant bakes nearly 600 dozen rolls each day, sweetening the bread with a dollop of sorghum molasses. Servers are known to toss the rolls to customers as they walk past the tables. As guests settle into this friendly, laid-back atmosphere, they can take their pick of piping-fresh fare like chicken and dumplings, fried okra, chicken pot pie and smoked hog jowl.
In 1942, Earl and Agnes Lambert opened Lambert’s Café with a small loan from the bank and just 14 cents to their name. They persevered through World War II, when many restaurants were forced to close due to rationed food supplies, and provided a small refuge where locals could gather during hard times. After Earl Lambert passed away in 1976, his son, Norman Lambert, took over the cafe with his mother.
The tradition of the throwed rolls began one day when Norman Lambert was passing around dinner rolls to customers throughout the tightly packed restaurant. There was one patron he could not quite reach who finally told him to “just throw the damn thing.” Lambert obliged, much to the amusement of everyone watching, and soon other servers began doing the same thing.
“Everybody joined in, really by accident,” said general manager Jerry Johnson, who has worked at the restaurant for over 30 years. “People just liked the entertainment of it.”
Under Lambert’s ownership, the local diner progressed into a well-known, 300-seat establishment. During the 1990s, he opened two more locations, in Ozark, Missouri, and Foley, Alabama. Lambert passed away in 1996, leaving the management of the popular restaurant chain to his two sons.
