And it’s Pat C., who lauded the Dairy-Eette:

“The Dairy-Ette drive-in at the corner of Oates Dr and Ferguson Rd makes time stand still,and for some of us that’s all the reason we need to dub this restaurant our friend for life. No matter the age, everyone finds nostalgia in ordering from the car or are we just lazy at times. Go inside and the counter and booths are the same we sat in back fifty plus years ago…that is if you can still get out of the car or can still get in the booth.”

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Pat gets a prize from the Advocate treasure chest. Pat, we thought, did the best job of explaining why the Dairy-Ette is the quintessential neighborhood restaurant. The bit about the booths was quite nice. Keep me in mind, this was an essay contest, not one that counted votes or nominations and it certainly wasn’t about which was the “best” restaurant.

The entries were so good, in fact, that we picked four runners-up instead of just two. They are JRD for Keller’s (East Dallas/Lakewood), Brian for Thukta Thai (Lake Highlands), avacenna for Sevy’s (Preston Hollow), and SunnyB for Don Panza (Oak Cliff). If you’re on the list, send Wamre an email with your contact information so he can get the prize your way. And do you think it’s a coincidence that most of the restaurants that people waxed poetic about don’t have Web sites?