NORFOLK, Va. — A Hampton Roads classic is celebrating its 120th birthday this year! Doumar's is known for being the home of the original waffle cone.
“Doumar's for our family is a very old family tradition. My mom and dad would come in here before they were engaged,” said one regular customer.
Doumar's opened on Monticello Avenue in 1934. It's local favorite, even for four-legged friends.
“She says, 'I like my cheeseburgers. I like a grilled cheese with bacon particularly,'” said another regular customer who brought her Cocker Spaniel along for a bite.
But Doumar’s got its start long before the brick-and-mortar on Monticello Avenue.
A Syrian immigrant, Abe Doumar was a paperweight salesman who’d set up a stand at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. He was always looking for the next big thing, and he found it.
“There was a stand of a man selling ice cream and at the time, ice cream was sold on a paper plate. And there was another man rolling wafers and putting whipped cream in it or something like that. And the man selling ice cream ended up running out of paper plate bowls for the ice cream," said fourth-generation Doumar, Hunter Windley.
“Abe kind of brought the three together and said, 'Well, if you roll the flat wafer up into a cone shape, you could put the ice cream on top, and then there’s your ice cream cone,'" said Windley.
And the waffle cone was born. Abe Doumar also engineered the machine, used to make four cones at a time.
“With that first machine, he opened up on Coney Island," said Thad Doumar. "He did so well he expanded his operations down the East Coast.”
He brought over family members from Damascus to run the stands, including one at the Ocean View Amusement Park in 1907.
Eventually, Norfolk became Doumar’s headquarters because it was a day's train ride to either Jacksonville or New York - where he owned ice cream stands.
The same cone-making machine that Abe Doumar put to work in the 1900s is still being used today.
“We come in and make cones every day," said Thad Doumar. "We have them freshly made every single day."
They even make their own batter: a secret recipe. And speaking of secret recipes...
“Nobody makes BBQ like Doumar's,” said one regular customer.
“Ours is an NC-style BBQ. You roast your pork butt - that’s our signature piece of meat - [then] chop it up and add vinegar, spices, and you cook it again in a pot,” said Thad Doumar.
Another Doumar’s classic: the limeade.
“We sell three times as many limeades as we do Cokes," said Thad Doumar. "Each one is handmade. Each one has the limes in it that we cut every day. We add sugar to [them] and it's real sugar, unlike most of the drinks today."
Customers tell me they love the food and that family is the focus.
“Now, we’re bringing the next generation to Doumar's," said a regular customer.
“I’m drinking a chocolate Ringo, which is a chocolate shake with crushed-up cones in it,” said one young customer.
The Ringo, by the way, is not on the menu - but those who know… know.
Another oddity on the menu is the hot dog, nicknamed 'the square dog.' And if you saw it, you'd know why.
Thad Doumar says during World War II, the U.S. federal government rationed certain food items. Bakeries were only allowed to carry loaf bread and hamburger buns. So, Doumar's started serving hot dogs, split down the center length-wise and served on a hamburger bun. Even after the restrictions were lifted, they kept serving it that way.
The family-run drive-in has also gotten national attention: Guy Fieri of the Food Network has been to the Norfolk landmark three different times.
While Doumar's prides itself on tradition and nostalgia, there is something new that is catching on: the 'Dogs of Dou's.' Kathy Doumar-Windley says during the pandemic, a lot of regular customers and new ones too, would come to Doumar's curb service spot with their pups as a way of getting out of the house, while still social distancing. Kathy started posting pictures of all the pups that would accompany their human parents, and the 'Dogs of Dou's' was born. She says the customers love it!
Happy birthday Doumar's! You are positively Hampton Roads, serving up a heaping scoop of Americana for 120 years. Cheers!
