Classic Restaurants of Coastal Virginia

The history of dining in Virginia goes back to 1607. Dairy lunches and tearooms dominated the early twentieth-century dining scene. Local favorite Doumar’s—famous for inventing the ice cream cone—became the rage at the 1907 Jamestown Exposition, and palatial seaside resorts like the Cavalier attracted patrons to their luxurious dining rooms in the Roaring Twenties. In the 1930s, Bacalis’ Hot Dog Place invented the Norfolk Dog, a tradition that’s carried on today. Steinhilber’s has catered to family nights out for decades, keeping pace as the local food scene has grown and changed. Join local chef and food writer Patrick Evans-Hylton as he recalls the history of Coastal Virginia’s restaurants and the personalities that made them unforgettable.