Gun Lake area restaurant Curley Cone will be host for a visit from America’s Best Restaurants Wednesday, Sept. 21.
America’s Best Restaurants, a national media and marketing company focusing on local, independently-owned eateries, will bring its ABR Roadshow here and will feature popular dishes, along with an extensive on-camera interview with owner Julie Fox. The episode will be aired extensively on social media channels at a later date.
Curley Cone has been an icon in the community for decades.
“What’s cool about our restaurant is that it’s been in the Gun Lake area since the fifties,” said Fox.
She said several years ago, the bank was about to liquidate the property, and she just couldn’t accept that even though she had no food service background.
“I had no experience, had never worked in a restaurant, but I bought [the restaurant] because I just didn’t want one more cool, iconic thing about our area, our neighborhood, to be gone,” she said.
Fox grew the former walk-up window known originally in 1954 as Kirk’s Kurley Kones to what it is today, having recently undertaken a remodel of everything from the parking lot to pickleball courts. Nearing completion next door to Curley Cone is Thirsty Buddy, a wood-fired pizza restaurant named after Fox’s dog. The restaurant also boasts a farm stand, espresso bar, party room and large outdoor patio. There also is a food truck.
“When anybody has company, it’s where they come,” Fox said. “It’s where all the kids who live in the area work in the summer. We have gazillions of people who had their first dates here and are now married,” she says. “It really is the hub of the community. We are where everybody gathers.”
America’s Best Restaurants will be filming on location from 1 to 4 p.m. Sept. 21.
Curly Cone is open every day but Christmas Day at 12850 W. M-179 Highway, (269) 792-6560 or www.curleycone.com.
America’s Best Restaurants is a national media and restaurant marketing company based in Florence, KY. It travels the country telling the stories and highlighting the unique food of locally owned independent restaurants as part of their ABR Roadshow. Restaurants are featured not only on ABR’s Restaurant Network of social media channels and website, but also each individual establishment’s Facebook page. With over 700 episodes filmed, America’s Best Restaurants is the premier marketing agency for restaurant owners and operators to have their story broadcast coast-to-coast.
