Smith's Red & White In Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

My July issue of My State magazine featured 100 Foods You Must Eat In North Carolina's 100 Counties. You can get all the foods on the above link plus readers' suggestions. I will be carrying this issue with me next time Mr. Hawthorne and I travel North Carolina. The suggestion for Nash County was for the link sausage at Smith's Red and White in Rocky Mount. Last weekend when Mr. Hawthorne and I went to Danville/Basset we decided to check out the Red and White since it's only about 5 minutes off 64 East.

And here's Smith's Red and White.

We headed to the back of the store where the butcher shop is.

The air-dried sausages are flying out of there. You can get mild or hot. We bought some of each.

During an average week, Smith's sells 6000-7000 pounds of sausage. At $3.59/pound. At Christmastime, about 30,000 pounds a week, all made on site. That's a lotta pig.

Hams!

That's Mr. Hawthorne at the check out far left. Within minutes, a line had formed behind us.

The article in Our State said the parking lot would be full of license plates from New York to Florida and everything in between and people would be going in with 60-quart Igloo coolers.

This couple was from Georgia. Their cart was full of sausages. Check out the size of their cooler.

It was lunch time and we decided to eat at Smith's Restaurant next door which boasts "Good Ole Fashion Home Cookin'." The restaurant hours are from 7 AM to 2 PM, Tuesday through Saturday. I'd love to have breakfast here. I would think breakfast would be kick-ass.

You walk in and go to the back counter where the serving area is. The lunch plate special is 1 meat, 2 veggies for $5.99 or the large - 2 meats, 3 veggies for $6.99, and all the fixin's are ready to serve up right there. There's also a sandwich menu which I ordered from.

Mr. Hawthorne chose the fried fish, mashed potatoes with gravy, and cole slaw. This does not set well with me. I got a problem with fried fish and gravy, but whatever blows your skirt up, Mr. Hawthorne. I had a bite of the cole slaw and it was quite good.

Like I said, this is the place for breakfast.

Mr. Hawthorne got his plate at the counter and we went to sit at a table where I waited for my sandwich to be served. Good thing I was sitting on this side of the table since Mr. Hawthorne would have gotten up to straighten the two frames on the far wall.

I got the club sandwich with fries. I asked for extra-crispy and darn near got 'em this time.

Not bad. Not exceptional. Do I espy rubber cheese? I liked this place. The service is superior. The dishes were dispensed with a heapin' of "huns," "shugs," and "darlin's." Southern hospitality at its finest. Very friendly. Very comfortable. This is where the locals would be and I can certainly appreciate that. I'm glad we stopped. Now we're back home and cooking sausage for the taste test. Mr. Hawthorne has determined the best way to cook these bad boys (Bad boys - I wanted to be edgy like Fee-ye-dee. And yes, my sunglasses are on the back of my head.) is to nuke them for 2 minutes, turning halfway through, then brown them in a skillet. It's pretty good sausage. The hot ain't what I'd call hot though.

Saturday morning breakfast: Mr. Hawthorne's omelet with fresh scallions clipped from a pot on the deck and potatoes and cheese and the sausage.