Oneida Tradition
Phillips Drive-In serves it up fresh
Theresa Goodman practically grew up in her family’s Oneida restaurant, Phillips Drive-In. By the age of 9, she was already sweeping floors and dipping out coleslaw before graduating to making pizzas and ice cream and eventually serving customers.
“I have spent my life here,” says Theresa, whose grandparents, Clyde and Ardelia Phillips, started the restaurant as a traditional drive-in the late 1950s, several years before she was born. Before going into business for themselves, Ardelia worked in a factory and Clyde was a barber. “He worked on Main Street,” Theresa says. “Then he started something in the ‘50s called The Hut. He made his own ice cream and sold it. It was just a hobby, I think, but then he decided to open a full-blown restaurant.”
Phillips Drive-In opened in the late 1950s and thrived until a drunk driver crashed into the original building in 1972. The restaurant moved to its current location on Alberta Street, and the drive-in was replaced with a walk-up window, but the name stayed the same.
Where Taste Meets Tradition
Today, Phillips Drive-In is still going strong, while still making most everything by hand from family recipes. “My grandparents taught us how to make homemade chili from scratch,” Theresa says. “The pizza, which was the 1st pizza to be served in the area, is still made with a homemade sauce that we make daily. Our corn dogs, which we call Dip Dogs, are dipped in a batter that we make fresh daily. It’s the same with our codfish, which we soak in our secret sauce and hand roll.”
It’s difficult to find anything that’s not homemade at Phillips. “It’s important for us to carry on my grandma and grandpa’s tradition,” Theresa says. “We don’t fix anything up ahead of time. My grandma taught me that you need to fix it fresh and make it look good.”
The effort the crew at Phillips Drive-In puts in to serve fresh high-quality food has not gone unnoticed. Diners often share posts and photos on the restaurant’s Facebook page, singing the praises of their favorite menu items and hailing the eatery as an invaluable part of living in Scott County — something sorely missed after moving away.
Hopping Spot
More than 60 years after first opening its doors, Phillips is still going strong. Theresa’s parents, Jerry and Judy Terry, took over the restaurant and still own it. But these days, Theresa, her husband, John Goodman, and her sister, Tammy Crowley, handle the day-to-day management.
In recent years, the family made the decision to cut back its operating hours in an effort to reduce stress, focus on health and spend more time with family. “It hurt, because we lost some of our weekend business from people coming from out of town,” Theresa says. “I feel bad about it, but since I went into remission from cancer, it’s important for me to spend more time with my grandkids.”
Even with the reduced hours, Phillips still draws a crowd. Whether they’re lined up at the walk-up window for a slice of pizza, a hot fudge cake or the double-decker Jerry Burger, restaurant-goers can’t wait to take a bite of their favorite comfort foods. Many gather at the picnic tables outside or pile into the restaurant on a Friday night. “We have people coming from all over,” Theresa says. “It stays very busy.”
But no matter how good the food is, the best part about Phillips is its loyal customers. “The thing I love most about this place is the people I’ve met over the years and all the memories we’ve made,” Theresa says. “Our customers are like family, and I’ve grown up around so many of them.”
Story from HTC.