Although hot dog season is winding down, the summer staple is never far from the American mind.

The sun breaking through over Pacific Grove means one thing to Daniel Dabney: Hot dogs.

Granted, the Snack Shack at Lovers Point’s menu is limited – piling on “the works” means lettuce, tomato and onion. But as manager of the little spot, Dabney has noticed the results of a clear afternoon.

“It all comes down to summer reminiscing,” he says.

There is an anecdotal correlation. The ballpark, the backyard grill, the fairgrounds – the adventures of summer call for convenience. But Dabney can add numbers. The Snack Shack has sold more than 80 hot dogs on nice days, and not just to children.

“We have a lot of people who tell us, ‘My grandparents brought me here,’” he observes with a smile. “They always mention that a hot dog was 25 cents.”

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council refers to the stretch between Memorial Day and Labor Day as hot dog season. During those months, Americans consume 7 billion wieners.

Joleen Green is familiar with the season. She once operated the snack bar at a community baseball field.

“People wanted hot dogs at 9 in the morning,” she recalls. “They wanted them all day.”

That experience sparked the idea for Lucy’s on Lighthouse in Pacific Grove, where the menu is frank-centric.

Green agrees that the nostalgic call of youthful summers plays a role in hot dog cravings. Yet summer and a dog in a bun are just a starting point. The most popular item at Lucy’s is the Asilomar, a dog wrapped in bacon and loaded with chili, nacho cheese, sauteed onions and grilled jalapeño. Bacon lends a smoky crackle to Bone Yards, which serves as a foil to the sweet bite of grilled onions and peppers.

One version – not recommended without a protective covering – involves pulled pork, kimchi, pimento cheese and slaw.

“It’s the perfect meal, all in one package,” Green says of hot dogs. Indeed, the adult desire for hot dogs is such that Lucy’s appeared on Check Please! Bay Area at the behest of regulars.

For Green, the appeal of the dog is in its versatility. “People ask for some crazy stuff,” she says. “I don’t tell people what to put on a hot dog.”

Neither do the folks at Dubber’s Oldtown Bar & Grill in Salinas. The Rodeo Dog is a roundup of topping options, including bleu cheese, chorizo – even a fried egg. There are five dogs on the menu, but the favorite is the Chicago, an example of regional tastes.

The classic Chicago dog includes sport peppers and absurdly neon relish. The Coney Island dog is a Detroit favorite, topped with chili. Nathan’s is associated with Coney Island. And there is the Dodger Dog of L.A. fame.

Sausages made their first ballpark appearance in St. Louis, at least according to the most prevalent story. Chris von der Ahe, owner of the St. Louis Browns of the American Association introduced them to fans in 1893.

That tidbit is one of the few relative certainties about hot dogs. The German city of Frankfurt claims to be the birthplace of the type of sausage, hence the name frankfurter. But another tale has a butcher in Coberg, Germany conjuring the dog. And then there is Vienna, Austria – wiener meaning “from Vienna.”

There is no consensus as to why Americans adopted “hot dog,” either. They were often called dachshund sausages by German immigrants, so that’s the likely starting point.

Hot dogs in buns? Common theories lead to a New York vendor in the 1860s, a hot dog stand on Coney Island in 1871 and the often repeated but highly unlikely 1904 St. Louis world’s fair episode.

That we know so much about what we don’t know is due to the diligence of Bruce Kraig, author of Hot Dog: A Global History. But even he could not settle the biggest point of contention.

Is it a sandwich? Dabney compares it inconclusively to a hoagie. Green places the hot dog in a category of its own – special status. So that’s a no?

But we do know that it is hot dog season and they remain popular. In fact, Dabney says that the Snack Shack had a warming roller, but it couldn’t keep up with demand. And the off-the-beaten-path success of Lucy’s suggests that hot dog season may actually be longer than thought.