ELIZABETHTOWN — The line is often long, sometimes out the back door. And now, it may get even longer.

Melvins’ Hamburgers and Hot Dogs, LLC, located on West Broad Street in Elizabethtown, is one of 100 eateries featured in the July issue of Our State magazine, which recently hit the stands. It is part of a food segment titled “100 Foods You Must Eat in North Carolina’s 100 counties,” written by David Bailey.

Despite putting the piece together for Our State, Bailey didn’t actually visit each of the 100 eateries. Instead, he employed a different method of finding the pearls of the palate.

“One of the things I did when I got the assignment was send out an all-points-bulletin to every serious foodie that I knew — and believe me, I know quite a few,” Bailey said. “I’ve been writing about food for decades, as a restaurant reviewer, as a magazine editor, as a travel writer, as someone who maintained a barbecue blog and finally as a person who loves to share my meals without others through my writing. So I’ve developed a wide network of people who are constantly telling me I’ve got to try this or that and, likewise, I’m constantly suggesting places to them.

“In my e-mail to my foodie friends I said that what I was looking for was something characteristic of the home county but also something that was unexpectedly delicious. That was my way of trying to give each food I featured a measure of difference, a reason for picking it over so many other places and so many other foods. My reasoning was that I wanted my surrogate eaters, as I came to call them, to have some clear justification or special reason why the food stuff they’d picked stood out above others.”

Bailey got what he was looking for, too.

“I think, in all, there might be three hamburgers picked total across the state, maybe only two,” Bailey said. “Melvin Hatcher, who works with a close friend at International Textile Group, sent me several suggestions, but the most enthusiastic was Melvin's.”

The story ...

In the magazine, Bailey wrote:

When Melvin Hatcher, a system administrator at International Textile Group in Greensboro, first saw Melvins’ in Elizabethtown on his way to the beach, he couldn’t drive by his namesake without stopping, especially considering he’s a connoisseur of hamburgers. And so began a long relationship: “By far, from my experiences, the burgers at Melvins’ are at the top of my list,” he says. Granted there’s always a line, “but they have a reputation for filling orders faster than any other burger joint in the U.S.,” Hatcher says. If you delay too much on your order here, they’ll skip to the next person.

Hatcher doesn’t come to be coddled. He comes for the burgers: “They’re hand-patted and to-die-for. I would drive to Elizabethtown just to eat at Melvins’.” And then stand patiently in line.

Now serving ...

Melvins’ is co-owned and operated by Randy Harris, who purchased the business in 2004 from Pat and Anne Melvin.

“It’s a real honor for us to be included in such a reputable magazine,” Harris said. “And it wasn’t us that gave information to them, it was our customers.”

Melvins’, which first opened in 1938 under the watchful eye of Pat Melvin’s father and two uncles, has built its 72-year reputation around efficiency and quality — both of which haven’t changed over the years.

“We didn’t see any need to change anything,” Harris said. “Our goal is to maintain the quality and service to our customers.”

Though nothing has really changed, Harris did say they have added a cheeseburger to the menu and now offer free drink refills. Otherwise ...

“We use the same chili and slaw recipes,” Harris said, “and the hamburger is still made by John Inman of the former Red & White store here.”

And Harris wanted his customers to know one thing about the magazine story.

“We don’t ever skip a customer ... for any reason,” he said.