Sometimes when you live someplace long enough, you realize you have missed certain obvious gems in the community. This especially comes up where local restaurants are concerned.

To fix those oversights, lunch often is the best time to find a place you haven’t yet eaten and “take the plunge” into the unknown. It might be good, it might be bad, but it will always be an adventure.

All too often, we don’t go somewhere new or different because we don’t know what to expect. That is where this new feature, “Let’s Do Lunch,” comes in. Each week, we will highlight a different spot for lunch that you can try. We will tell you about prices, atmosphere and anything else you need to know before showing up and chowing down.

And if you have a place we should go, don’t hesitate to drop a line. It’s always lunchtime around here.

Mac Smith’s Country Store and Grill

2201 Lebanon Road, Anderson; 864.224.9759

Sometimes the best places to grab lunch aren’t anywhere along “restaurant row” or even downtown. Sometimes you have to go to the boonies to get yourself a taste of something good.

Blink and you’ll pass Mac Smith’s Country Store and Grill on Lebanon Road. Unless, of course, you see the cars parked at the fork in the road. It’s there that Mac Smith’s Grill serves breakfast and lunch.

The place is set up just like a small country store. They still sell chips and candy bars and bottles of Coca-Cola. But the reason to go is lunch.

Ordering at the counter is simple enough if you grab a to-go menu or look at the many signs pointing to specials or specialties. And everything on the menu is inexpensive for fairly large portions.

The hamburgers, it’s been said, are great and made from local beef. The Philly Cheese Steaks also have received good word-of-mouth. But, with summer coming, the chicken salad was the way to go.

Toasted bread and fresh-made chicken salad with a hint of dill for flavor. Add a few fries to the mix and voila.

Prices for plates range from $3 to $7 and include fish, chicken fingers, grilled cheese and bird dogs. And they take all credit cards, so you won’t have to search the car for change after ordering.

Mac Smith’s Grill is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day but Wednesdays and Sundays.

Oh, and grab a Klondike bar on the way out. Just like when you were 10.