Doumar's Cones and BBQ

Doumar's Cones and BBQ is a restaurant located at 1919 Monticello Avenue in Norfolk, Virginia. Originally an ice cream business at the Ocean View Amusement Park, the creator, Abe Doumar, is regarded as having created the world's first ice cream cone.

The Restaurant

The first Doumar's at Ocean View and other Doumar's stands at nearby beach resorts were destroyed by a hurricane in 1933. In 1934, one of Abe's brothers, George, opened the present establishment in downtown Norfolk. The Doumar family constructed a new building at the same location in 1949. That building has been remodeled periodically since then. Doumar's is known for its barbecue, ice cream, and curb service, with waitresses that take orders at your car.

The Doumar Family

Abe Doumar was born a Lebanese man in 1881 and arrived in the U.S. around 1895. He had three brothers: Charlie, George and John. He brought them to the States with his mother and father. Abe died in 1947.^[1]

George Doumar, born in 1892, worked at the restaurant until he died in 1974. George Doumar's son, Albert Doumar, born in 1922 in Norfolk, still makes ice cream cones daily at the restaurant, as of September 2008, on a cone making machine that dates from 1905. Another son of George Doumar, Robert G. Doumar, is a federal judge.

In May 1999, the restaurant was awarded a James Beard Foundation Award in the "America's Classics" category which honors legendary family-owned restaurants around the country.

In August 2008, the restaurant was featured on Food Network's hit series Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, hosted by Guy Fieri.

In 2011, director Spike Lee used Doumar's for a series of promos for the Ed Schultz show as part of MSNBC's "Lean Forward" campaign. In one, Schultz is seen sitting at Doumar's lunch counter when he delivers the line "I need two shows."

Ice Cream Cone Invention

The story goes that when Abe was 16, he began to sell paperweights and other items while dressed in Arab robes. One night, he bought a waffle from another vender and proceeded to roll it up and place a scoop of ice cream on top. He then began selling the cones at the St. Louis Exposition. His cones were such a success that he designed a four-iron baking machine and had a foundry make it for him. At the Jamestown Exposition in 1907, he and his brothers sold nearly twenty-three thousand cones. After that, Abe bought a semiautomatic 36-iron machine, which produced 20 cones per minute.^[2]

References

1. ^ Doumar's Cones & Barbecue _ Norfolk, Virginia
2. ^ The Ocean View Nickel Tour - Part VII