Foreston cafe transitions to new owner

Those elements of the cafe are not changing anytime soon despite the cafe transitioning to its new owner, Nancy Lambert.

As of Friday, July 1, Lambert took over from the previous owner, Cindy Bruss.

According to Lambert, Bruss had been trying to convince Lambert to take over for her ever since she began working for the cafe in April of 2021.

“I came here in April of 2021 looking for part-time work and Cindy had told me she was looking for a Monday, Tuesday cook and basically said ‘someday I’m going to need somebody to take this place over.’ and I was thinking yea right, I was just wanting to check it out. So, she’s kind of been prying at me over the last year to do it and mentoring me,” Lambert said.

Lambert, originally from the upper peninsula of Michigan, moved to Minnesota in 1994.

She then went on to work in the Foley School District where she learned how to cook on an industrial scale.

However, outside of her experience in Foley, Lambert is completely self-taught when it comes to cooking.

“I’m self-trained. I was kind of grandfathered in, and just did my own experimenting at home. I always enjoyed cooking, so this kind of fell into my expertise or things that I enjoy doing,” Lambert said.

Her passion for cooking is what originally drew her to working at the D&L Cafe.

“I do enjoy cooking so that was one thing that attracted me,” Lambert said. “It was funny because the first day Cindy was training me, I was thinking ‘how busy could a cafe in Foreston be’ and it totally blew my mind, and to this day Cindy still laughs at that.”

Now that she has taken over for Bruss, Lambert has made some minor changes to the cafe, but she does not plan on making any big changes regarding the menu any time soon.

“As far as the cooking style and the potato salads and the cucumber and macaroni salads, it’s all going to stay the same from the previous owner,” Lambert said. “She taught me everything, and everyone is pretty adamant that they want everything to stay the same. So, I plan on keeping it as close to the same as I can.”

Lambert has also been working to incorporate her personal motto for the cafe into the space by adding a sign in the seating area to reflect it.

According to Lambert, the customers were another one of the biggest reasons as to why she decided to take on ownership of the cafe, and through her motto, she hopes to make the cafe a comfortable and relaxing place for them.

“I just want this to be a place where people can gather. My new saying is ‘where friends become family”. So, they can come in here and relax while having a good meal and know the atmosphere is inviting,” Lambert said. “I just want to treat people how I would want to be treated, cook for them the way that I would want my food cooked. That’s my biggest thing that I hope continues and becomes part of the cafe.”

Lambert is excited for the opportunity of owning the cafe, and even though she is the new owner, she still feels like it’s business as usual at the cafe.

“I just felt like it was something that I could do and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Lambert said. “I’ve worked here for over a year, so it still feels like normal everyday operations, just obviously I’m responsible for the bills and all that now.”

The D&L Cafe is located just off of Highway 23 in Foreston. It shares the building with the D&L Express gas station and convenience store.. To learn more the D&L Cafe,, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DLExpress/.

“I give a lot of credit to my faith and to my family, they’re very supportive and the customers here are very supportive and I’m most grateful to Cindy, she’s a great mentor. I’m excited,” Lambert said.

Reach Chloe Smith at chloe.smith@apgecm.com