Seventy Years, Four Owners, and One Really Good Banana Split
If you live in LaFayette, Georgia, or even if you just pass through occasionally, chances are, you’ve heard of the Dari Dip.
It’s the little white building at 302 W. Villanow Street, the one that’s been dishing out burgers and ice cream since Eisenhower was in office. The place where high school kids used to sneak off to for lunch and where their grandkids now sit in the same booths, eating the same banana splits.
The Dari Dip opened in 1953, back when a good meal didn’t come with a QR code. The original building was a walk-up stand, the kind of place where you ordered at the window, grabbed your food, and sat in the parking lot with the windows rolled down. The high school was just around the corner then, and students practically considered the place their second homeroom.
One of those kids was Fred Travillian, who first came to the Dari Dip in 1962. “It wasn’t really cutting out,” he says. “The teachers knew where we were, and half the time, they’d send us with money to bring something back for them.”
Things changed. The high school moved. A fire burned the building down in the ‘90s.
But the Dari Dip didn’t disappear. It came right back. The menu got bigger, the booths got added, and eventually, it landed in the hands of Donald Benton, who grew up in the restaurant business.
Donald hadn’t exactly planned on running a place like this. He was in college when his dad came to him with the idea of buying the Dari Dip. Donald shrugged and said, “Why not?” That was in 2009, and he hasn’t looked back since.
That’s not to say he came in with big ideas. In fact, he didn’t change a thing for the first year. He just watched, learned, and listened. What he figured out was simple—people don’t come to the Dari Dip for surprises. They come because it’s exactly the way they remember it.
And the menu? It’s been built by the customers as much as the owners.
Sure, you’ve got the classics—the Dari Burger, the square-bun staple that’s been on the menu since the beginning. The hot dogs, the fried chicken livers that have their own cult following.
But every now and then, something new sneaks in. Not because Donald was trying to shake things up, but because somebody asked for it, and he figured, again, “Why not?”
That’s how the pimento cheese sandwich ended up on the board. A couple of regulars wouldn’t stop talking about how much they loved pimento cheese, so Donald got their recipe, tweaked it, and now? It’s a favorite.
That’s how things work here.
It’s like going to your grandmother’s house on a Sunday afternoon. There’s something for everyone, and it’s probably not what you’d expect to be served together—but that’s not really the point. There’s always that one dish made just for you, and if you asked for it last time, there’s a good chance it’s waiting on you the next time you show up.
And then there’s dessert.
If you leave without ordering ice cream, someone ought to follow you outside and tell you to turn around. The banana split has been around for decades, and people say it tastes just like it did in 1972. The orange sherbet is homemade, smooth and just tart enough to make you pause between bites. And if you walk in on the right day, you might find cheesecake in the cooler.
Yes, cheesecake.
No, you wouldn’t expect a small-town burger stand to have cheesecake worth talking about. And yet, here we are.
If you ask anybody who works at the Dari Dip what makes it special, they won’t talk about the menu. They’ll talk about the people.
The same regulars show up at the same time every day, ordering the same meals they always have. Most of the staff have been here for years, and if they don’t know your name when you walk in, give it a few weeks. They’ll learn.
Eli, one of the Dari Dip's dedicated employees, put it best: “The most important voice of this entire establishment is our guest. Without them, we’re not anything.”
And that’s the truth.
The Dari Dip isn’t just about food. It’s about routine. It’s about a place that’s been right there on West Villanow Street for seventy years, still standing while everything around it keeps changing.
So if you haven’t been, go. Order a Dari Burger. Maybe a banana split. Take a look around.
And if you sit in the right booth, at the right time of day, you just might hear an old-timer explaining to a kid that the banana split still tastes just like it did back in the day.
And the kid will probably roll his eyes.
And Grandpa will just smile and nod. Smile and nod. Because he knows—some things should never, ever change.
For more information about the Dari Dip, follow them on Facebook and drop in for a cone at 302 W. Villanow Street, LaFayette, GA.
Коментарі