ALTOONA -- Every few days, Robert Lamont is in the back kitchen of his small restaurant here on 12th Avenue, stirring two huge, heavy-gauge aluminum kettles. Into each, he dumps 40 pounds of lean ground beef that has been browned twice and as many as 11 different spices. Then, he lets it all simmer for six hours.

V.W.H. Campbell, Post-Gazette Proprietor Robert Lamont behind the grill at Texas Hot Wieners in Altoona. Click photo for larger image. DOG DAYS Americans will eat 7 billion hot dogs this summer; laid end-to-end, they would stretch around the equator 27 times. In 2004, consumers spent $1.8 billion on hot dogs in U.S. supermarkets. Americans will eat 24.2 million hot dogs in major league ballparks. Mustard is America's favorite hot dog topping at 32 percent, followed by ketchup at 23 percent. Source: National Hot Dog and Sausage Council at www.hot-dog.org

By the end of the day, he has 80 pounds of his famous chili sauce to top the 700-plus all-beef, specially made hot dogs the shop sells each day.

Lamont, 49, can't make the chili in smaller quantities.

"I tried one time, and I couldn't do it," he said.

Lamont is the third generation in his family to run Texas Hot Wieners, opened in 1918 by his grandfather, Peter George. His uncle ran it before Lamont finally took it over in 1973. Though the location has changed a couple of times since then, the recipes and the popularity of the famous hot dogs have not.

The counter, where customers are served on paper plates, is lined with red and chrome stools, and horns from a Texas steer sit on the walls. An antique cash register is a conversation piece on one wall, and old signs for 8-Ball soda and Red Rock cola adorn the others.

To add to the old-time feel of the place, Lamont still serves root beer and birch beer out of an old barrel dispenser made in the late 1930s. He talks about repairing it himself -- spending some five years to get all the different parts he needed to fix it. The barrel maintains a perfect 38-degree temperature, Lamont bragged, thanks to the 100 feet of stainless steel tubing that wraps itself around the inside.

"I love that thing," Lamont said. "If it goes down, even for a day, people get so mad at me."

The restaurant opens at 9:30 a.m. throughout the week, a tradition that dates back to the days when Altoona's railroads were booming. Nowadays, business doesn't usually start hopping until about 11, and the crowds aren't as big as they once were.

This week, when Americans take hot dogs to their grills in record numbers, the Lamonts go on vacation, so the shop will be closed until July 11.

When the shop first opened, buttermilk was on the menu for 5 cents a glass, and a hot dog with everything -- which in the Lamont family simply means chili, brown mustard and onions -- sold for just 10 cents. Nowadays, that hot dog is $1.20.

The Lamonts also serve about 20 pounds of homemade macaroni and cheese every day, and they make what they call a steer burger, which is baked in a stewed, spiced onion broth.

"They're a different type of hamburger than you've ever had before," Lamont said.

The steer burger is $1.50.

"I've eaten everything they have," said Gordon Hein, 62, who has visited the shop three times a week for the last 35 years. His first meal there was in 1959.

Though he works at the other end of town, Hein makes the drive almost daily.

"It's the people. I love the people," he said.

On this particular day, he's eating two hot dogs with everything -- his favorite -- along with a birch beer.

"Sometimes I don't even have to ask what I want," Hein said.

For Lamont and his wife, Cindy, 48, running the restaurant is a seven days a week job -- from placing orders, to making the chili, to peeling and chopping 50 pounds of onions every day or so, to maintaining the floors and bathrooms. Everyone takes turns doing all the different jobs.

They have great help in Darlene Winters, who's worked for them for 32 years. She can stack 10 hot dogs up her arms to get topped with a spoonful of chili, forkful of onions and single stripe of spicy brown mustard.

When asked the most bizarre hot dog combination they've ever put together for a customer, both Winters and Robert Lamont came up with the same answer. One customer asked for his hot dog to be cut in half lengthwise and have each half put in a separate bun. The most hot dogs ever consumed in one sitting, Winters said, was by a man who was having a contest with his friend. The friend ate 15, but the winner ate 24 -- complete with chili, mustard and onions.

"I couldn't believe it," Winters said.

Though the Lamonts' three children, now 24, 22 and 16, grew up at the hot dog shop -- their mom would place them in their baby carriers under the register so she could always keep an eye on them -- they didn't start working there until age 12. They began on the janitorial staff, moving up to become cooks, accountants and all-around restaurateurs, Cindy Lamont said.

The two sons, though, have decided to stay out of the family business. The oldest, Daniel, is getting a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh, and the other, Alex, just graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in accounting and business management.

That leaves the Lamonts' last hope in their daughter, Sophia, who they say is already a fantastic cook. Her specialty, though, is making crab cakes, and she talks of opening her own restaurant and working as a chef.

No matter what, all the kids still help when they can.

"In a family business, everybody has their role," said Cindy Lamont. "They've had the smell of hot dogs on them since birth."