Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Outside of Mediterranean restaurants, I don't think lamb has been a staple at US restaurants since the 1950s or 1960s. Even as a kid in the 1970s and 1980s, I heard about mint jelly and lamb and other fine dining dishes that used lamb, but never saw it on any menus, even when we went to those sorts of restaurants.I'd gather its a rare meat in U.S. giving them a theme to center on.
However it started, I think lamb farmers and Mediterranean restaurants are in some sort of symbiotic relationship now.