Williamsport's Desert Rose gets a new life as Mama Lu Lu's Diner

WILLIAMSPORT — Do you remember Jeanne's Confectionery? Are you missing the Desert Rose Café?

Here's some good news: A new diner in the same spot will be opening soon, with homage to Jeanne, Rose and the woman the new owners remember as "Mama Lu Lu."

Will Matthews and Don Clatterbuck plan to open Mama Lu Lu's Diner in late September. They're planning a seating space for about 45 people, have invested in a jukebox to enhance the diner's '50s vibe and have "pretty much done" a menu of home-cooked food.

They want the corner spot at 2 E. Potomac St. to be a gathering place for Williamsport residents once again.

"We are putting the stools back up against the actual bar so you'll be able to step off the bar like they used to back in the day," Clatterbuck said, "and just being able to come in and just have some home cooked food; everything will be cooked to order."

They plan to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, he said, and to be open Tuesday through Sunday — although Sunday might be more of a brunch schedule.

And there will be hand-dipped ice cream, Matthews said.

And daily dinner specials, Clatterbuck added.

Breakfast could include hot cakes, French toast, sausage gravy, chipped beef gravy and biscuits. Subs, sandwiches, wraps, salads and burgers are on tap for lunch, and they plan daily dinner specials.

And — There. Will. Be. Steamers.

"I didn't know this 'til recently, but Jeanne was famous for her steamers," Matthews noted, adding that he's got a killer (or words to that effect) recipe for steamers.

Who was Mama Lu Lu?

When Rose Harris decided not to reopen the Desert Rose Café this year, she thought Clatterbuck and Matthews might be a good fit to take over the spot.

"I contacted them because Don does wedding rentals, and I knew he was looking for a space," she said. Clatterbuck also manages the Springfield Barn for the town of Williamsport. And Matthews, who works in the dental field, is also caterer.

"And so my first thought was, well, maybe they could use it as a showroom for the wedding stuff. And then the kitchen part for the catering stuff. So it might not even necessarily be open to the public, but it would be a space for both of them to use for their other two separate entities. And when I met with them, I had no idea that they wanted to open a diner and they were like, 'No, we want to open a diner and we want to call it Mama Lu Lu's."

The inspiration behind the name is the late Laura Marshall, who managed the Harry & David's store at Hagerstown Premium Outlets. Harris and Clatterbuck had both worked for her at the store. Marshall died from cancer in the spring.

"I started working for Laura when I was 19," Harris said, "and she taught me everything that I know about business and catering and entertaining.

"We would have huge tasting parties" at the store, using all Harry & David products, she said. "She taught us about sales. I mean, she could sell ice to an Eskimo."

Marshall battled cancer for about five years, Clatterbuck said.

"You would never have thought that," he said. "She just pushed through even when she was in pain … she still was out, giving her all. She just still wanted to continue to be that mother figure to everyone."

When Harris operated the café, "Laura would come in here and she'd be like, 'I hate you so much … this is exactly what I've always wanted to do; I've never had the guts to do it myself,'" Harris said. "She was a single mom, and she's like, 'I couldn't just quit what I was doing and do what my passion was.' And so she would always banter with, 'I hate you; you're doing my dream job. This is what I've always wanted to do.'"

And Matthews and Clatterbuck decided to jump right in.

"This was our time to do it; it was the perfect time," Matthews said. "It's either do it now or don't do it at all."

They consulted with Marshall's daughters about using the name — and her likeness — for the new diner.

"They were over the moon about it," Clatterbuck said. "They were so excited."

As they were talking, the jukebox began to play. On its own.

"All right, Laura; stop playing the music," Clatterbuck quipped.

"We've had people have experience here" that they attributed to the late Jeanne House, who for decades ran the confectionery, Harris observed. "It could be Jeanne, it could be Laura."

The tune was R.E.M.'s "Belong."

"That's actually something Laura would listen to," Matthews said.

New horizons for everybody

Harris is still in the business of hospitality, continuing services she provided for hikers and bikers on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath.

While she was running the café, which operated in two other locations before settling in Jeanne's space in 2018, "I started doing luggage and shuttles along the C&O Canal. So that's kind of taken over. And I lost my general manager in December; he retired and moved to Michigan. So I was trying to figure out how I was going to continue doing everything.

"The shuttles and the luggage has a much higher profit margin, really, than a café because it's just me. And my car," she said. "And then I was approached by the owner of 2 Wheel Escapes, and he asked me to come on board with him to do shuttles also, but also to do these 'glamping' trips where I go along and I make dinner and breakfast. We move (cyclists') stuff from place to place, and then we set up and make dinner breakfast for them."

She wondered how she would juggle hiring a new staff for the café and pursue her "glamping" career, too. And she decided she couldn't.

"I worked 100 hours a week last year," she said, "and it killed me."

She also talked with her mother-in-law, Michele Nolan, about taking over the café. Nolan had been baking for Desert Rose since 2014. But Nolan wanted to concentrate on baking, and is opening a new bakery called Michele's Bakery and Sweet Shoppe on Bower Avenue.

Nolan had also worked with local caterers for weddings. Now she'll be offering cakes, cookies, pies and other goodies from her new shop. She'd done gingerbread classes with Desert Rose, and she plans more.

"We're gonna continue that once I get settled in," she said, "like once a month maybe a cake party or a tea party."

She's hoping to be open sometime next month.

So, just like that, the Desert Rose blossomed into three new ventures. And Harris is cheering all of them on. She's already telling her glamping clients about Mama Lu Lu's.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Mama Lu Lu's Diner to open this fall in Williamsport