| Tracing its business roots to a neighborhood grocery, Doe’s Eat Place has established an international reputation for giant steaks and tamales. Dominick Signa, known as “Big Doe,” began serving food out of the front room of the family store in the 1930s. In 1941, he acquired a tamale recipe from a coworker at the Greenville Army Air Field, which his wife, Mamie, tinkered with to create a treat that has garnered Doe’s a place on the Tamale Trail created by the Southern Foodways Alliance. Although first known for its tamales, the giant steaks Doe began serving in the 1940s fueled its reputation. Doe’s remains in the same location, north of downtown Greenville, in the same residential building where Papa Doe started his grocery business in 1903. Although it has expanded, the building retains much of its historic appeal. Doe’s was recognized by the James Beard Foundation as an American Classic in 2007. It was listed on the National Register on 27 March 2012. This building is mentioned in "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (p.108, in the listing for Newtown [Nelson Street Neighborhood], DR16). |