HUNTINGTON -- Professional eater Dale Boone rolled through the Tri-State last weekend and ate a pumpkin pie in 32 seconds and a Hillbilly Hotdogs Homewrecker in 3:45.

Not unlike Evel Knievel jumping school buses on a motorcycle, Boone said these kinds of mind-boggling, food-destroying feats are for trained professionals and should be approached with caution by the average person.

"I am on such a strict diet while doing competitive eating and that is why I tell them I can't wait for the season to end," said Boone, who still has to compete Nov. 28, in a chitterlings eating contest at The Chicken Strut in Salley, S.C. "Competitive eaters have to watch the intake of food that comes in. Pertaining to the Homewrecker, this is something that should only be tried by people who are used to eating such foods and by eating beyond their means. Competitive eating has nothing to do with being overweight but we look at as more of a feat and an accomplishment."

Sharie Knight, who owns Hillbilly Hotdogs with her husband, Sonny, said the Homewrecker, a 15-inch hot dog, the Singlewide, a five-pound burger, and the Doublewide, a 15-pound burger, are all fun, quirky parts of a large menu.

Not unlike party subs, the giant items are usually shared, but sometimes tackled alone by a brave few.

Knight said they're not sure how many people have taken the Homewrecker Challenge (eating it solo in under 12 minutes to get a free T-shirt), but that people do it for special occasions or as a group outing.

The largest number they've had at one setting was 10 Marshall football players who came to the downtown Huntington location to tackle the Homewrecker Challenge.

Knight said that while the mom and pop restaurant does have the novelty gargantuan items, it has from the beginning made food that's fresh and healthy. The menu has salads, Portobello mushroom dogs and fresh homemade soups.

"I like to eat good and fresh, and I don't like anything with preservatives so I am not going to put that into my restaurant," Knight said. "We have fresh ingredients, 100 percent beef wienies and fresh burger meat that is not frozen. One of the first things over 10 years ago when we opened our doors was to use nothing but pure canola oil and that was way before anyone was concerned with trans-fats. A lot of people in our business don't use canola oil because it is high end. But I am not going to serve something that I don't eat."

While Hillbilly Hotdogs' specialty menu items have proven to be the perfect TV-footage foil for "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" (the show filmed in the restaurant) and that spawned a Nov. 14 , front page story in the London Times, Knight said she thinks the publicity from the show will only help the small business that recently had the Travel Channel taping at the Lesage location.

"They came in and recorded when we were gone," Knight said. "... I know when he (Oliver) was here that he was in the kitchen so he knows the stuff is fresh. We all have to splurge and eat things we know we shouldn't every once in a while. Our store offers salads and veggie dogs and my homemade soups and goulashes. I think as far as I am concerned he hasn't hurt us at all, I think anymore awareness is good. It's always been that way."