Roam Denver's leaf-blanketed neighborhoods on an autumn weekend afternoon and chances are you can stop and smell the sausage grilling.

It might be the aroma of spicy Mexican chorizo, beer-soaked German bratwurst, plump Cajun andouille or even sweet Chinese lap cheong, but sausage is a natural part of our family get-togethers and Broncos game-watching parties.

Beyond its inherent tasty convenience, sausage also is a fundamental part of the culinary heritage for many ethnic groups, especially during the holiday season. No self-respecting Swede would celebrate Christmas without savory potato sausage links.

So while places like Green Bay might claim to be America's bratwurst capital, we happily nominate Denver as the best place in the United States to sample the world's finest sausages.

Don't believe we're living in a state of sausage? Just peruse the lengthy roster of local meat artisans in the sidebar and wait for your mouth to water.

Better yet, make a pilgrimage to the epicenter, the state's cathedral of sausage in a funky ramshackle storefront in north Denver. Park near Carbone's Italian Sausage Market and Deli, 1221 W. 38th Ave., about noon and you'll notice two things: a hint of fennel seed and a line winding out the front door.

Step inside and you might feel a little claustrophobic: There are only about 3 feet between the wall and the glass counter. Maybe six people can stand in line for take-out. Don't get distracted because you need to be ready to order . . . and to talk about the family and the weather, when the matriarch, Rose, says it's your turn.

Rose Lonardo and her husband, sausage-maker Nick Lonardo, grew up in the rural village of Castiglione Messer Marino.

They bought the shop from the Carbone family in 1978, and their son Tony now runs the place. His brother Bruno helps with deliveries, and a few employees help make the sausage and sandwiches.

"What you need today?" Rose asks in her thick-but-melodious Italian accent.

"I need some sausage, two pounds hot and two mild," says one customer.

"Rose, well, she's a North Denver staple," the customer says. "I come all the way from Thornton to shop here and see her."

He ends up getting a sausage sub, too, "while I'm here."

Sandwiches and links alike come wrapped in classic white butcher paper.

Denver police Officer Vince Lombardi walks in wearing an NYPD T-shirt. "The sausage is awesome, the best anywhere," he says, noting that he comes in at least once a week.

Sandwich-wise, it's a virtual tie, Tony says, between the sausage sub with marinara, provolone and peppers, and the Italian combo No. 1, with cold cuts and cheese cut to order for each customer.

Rose maintains a running dialogue and sometimes a monologue, asking customers about life and sometimes complaining.

"I'm 69," she says, even though she's only 68. "Why am I working so hard?" she asks nobody in particular and laments the ways things are today.

If you are very, very lucky, say the folks who work behind the counter, you'll get to hear Rose sing.

"She's got a beautiful voice. She sings Ave Maria and songs from her village," Tony says. But, he adds, she has to be in the mood.

Not surprisingly, the best-seller from the meat case is the Italian sausage. This USDA-inspected facility crafts 2,000 pounds weekly, with the mild a little more popular than the hot. They supply several restaurants and wholesalers, but most goes out the front door.

Standing in the small prep room, Tony starts a 50-pound batch of "hot" on a recent Friday. He takes pieces of fresh, trimmed pork butt and loin and feeds it into an electric grinder. Tony then adds the mixture of spices, including red pepper flakes and fennel seed - some finely ground.

"My mom does her own spices. She won't tell me the secret. Not yet. I think she's the secret," Tony says.

The mix goes in a stuffing machine as Tony shows the white, thin sausage casings from younger pigs. "They are a little more tender," he said. He rapidly fills the casings and curls the finished sausage on a stainless steel table.

Carbone's under-the-radar favorite is the dried sausage. The specially seasoned links are air-cured for six weeks in a locker, losing half their weight in the process. The result is a true rarity, artisan pepperoni, that sells out quickly in late November and December.

"Look, consumption of sausage has been going down for quite a few years now. People are worried about the fat," Tony says, adding that his sausage is 80 percent lean. The rising price of pork and everything else has him worried.

So he sells pounds of leftover pork skin to their next-door neighbors, Chubby's Original, to be fried into crispy chicharones. The family started selling sandwiches a decade ago to fill the noontime hours.

Nick and Rose still come to the market every day. "They're old school. They don't want me to change anything. The market is their life," Tony says.

None of the Lonardos knows how long the business will continue. Nick is 80; after 30 years, Tony, who grew up in north Denver, admits that running the place takes a physical toll and that doing the paperwork for the USDA license is a mental strain. But, he says, "I'll never have to wish I'd spent more time with my parents." He also doesn't plan on licensing the name and recipe.

"It wouldn't taste the same if we had someone else make it," he says. "It wouldn't have the love in it."

lehndorffj@RockyMountainNews.com; 303-954-5103

Other local sausage-makers

Many Denver-area meat markets, supermarkets, ethnic markets and natural foods stores sell an array of sausages. Here are a few locals that make their own:

* Belfiore Genuine Italian Sausage: Mild, hot and extra-hot Italian sausage. Sold at 5820 W. 38th Ave., Wheat Ridge. 303-455-4653

* Boulder Sausage: Originally Boulder-based as Don's Cheese and Sausage, the Louisville company wholesales bratwurst, hot and mild Italian sausage, cranberry-orange breakfast sausage, chorizo and others. Sold at major Colorado supermarkets. bouldersausage.com; 303-665-6302

* Canino's Sausage Co.: Operating since 1925, the company wholesales mild and hot Italian sausage, chorizo, Cajun and breakfast sausage. Sold at Albertson's, Safeway, Costco and Sam's Club. caninosausage.com; 303-455-4339

* Carmine Lonardo's Italian Meat Deli: Sweet and hot Italian sausage. Sold at 7585 W. Florida Ave., Lakewood and 15380 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora. 303-985-3555; 303-699-4532

* Continental Sausage: Open since 1969, Continental sells dozens of varieties of natural, fully cooked European-style sausages including the Oktoberfest veal and pork brat and smoked buffalo jalapeno cheddar brat. Sold at Wynkoop Brewery, Whole Foods Markets and Continental Deli, 250 Steele St. continentalsausage.com

* Enrico's Italian Sausage & Market: Mild and hot Italian sausage, bratwurst and Romano cheese, garlic and parsley pork sausage. Sold at 8020 Chase Drive, Arvada. 303-429-0750

* Gold's Corner Market: Italian and German, bratwurst, chorizo, breakfast and Swedish potato sausage. Sold at: 10021 W. 26th Ave., Wheat Ridge. 303-232-8849

* Old Style Sausage: Sweet and hot Italian sausage, bratwurst, chorizo, breakfast, andouille, Polish. Sold at Old Style factory, 1219 Courtesy Road, Louisville; Invesco Field and restaurants including Pasta J's. 303-666-8240

* Oliver's Meat Market: 30 varieties including bratwurst, lamb, andouille, turkey, and three types of Italian sausage. Sold at 1312 E. Sixth Ave. 303-733-4629

* Paisano Sausage Company: Mild and hot Italian sausage, breakfast sausage. Sold at Vinnola's Italian Market, 7750 W. 38th Ave., Wheat Ridge. 303-287-7277

* Polidori: Operating since 1925, now wholesales hot and mild Italian sausage, chorizo, bratwurst and breakfast sausage. Sold at King Soopers and Albertson's; restaurants including Wazee Supper Club, Proto's, Pasquini's, Original Pancake House, Toast, the Delectable Egg. polidorimeats.com

* Sawa Meat & Sausage Co.: Numerous varieties of European sausages including Polish sausage with garlic. Sold at 3206 Wadsworth Blvd., Wheat Ridge. 303-462-0412

How to cook sausage

Grilling: To prepare fresh or smoked (cooked) sausages on a grill, always poke holes in the links and cook them at low to medium heat. "The holes let out the steam pressure so they don't explode all over everything," said Eric Gutknecht of Denver's Continental Sausage. "You want to keep the heat at 170 (degrees) or less. At 180, everything explodes." For added flavor and quicker grilling, boil them first in a good dark beer or apple cider. For the grill, he uses patties made with bulk sausage, in part because the links of fresh sausage tend to blow up and burst before they cook through.

On the stove: Tony Lonardo of Carbone's Italian Sausage Market said his family usually fries sausage in a pan with a little water for a few minutes, then bakes them in sauce in a 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. They are then served with bread, his mom's homemade red sauce and sauteed peppers. "We also like to cut them up and serve them with capelletti-you know, spaghetti-with red and green bell peppers and 'white' sauce-olive oil and garlic."

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