If owner Dana Smith was to adopt a theme song for D’s Friendly Diner, she would be hard pressed to find one more fitting than “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” from the old TV show “Cheers” about a bar run by Sam Malone, a recovering alcoholic.

Space doesn’t permit a listing of the lyrics, but if you listen carefully, it’s as if the song was written specifically for the restaurant that Best of the Boro voters have named Best Breakfast for the fourth straight year.

Smith, who worked as a server at the old Snooky’s, is a recovering drug and alcohol addict who got a second chance in life when she opened the restaurant on June 14, 2012, which is also her birthday. 

“I worked for Mister Omelette at the same location,” said Smith, who has been sober since 2007. “My employer decided to move across town and I decided to make it my own. It was a spiritual thing.”

D’s is the quintessential smalltown restaurant. It offers quality food at reasonable prices served by servers who know their customers. Smith has a hard-core group of regulars who when they walk through the door the chef starts preparing their order because he knows what they want.

“Being voted Best of the Boro means everything to me,” said Smith who hires only recovering addicts and oversees them through their recovery program. “Owning this restaurant has never been about the money. It’s always about the special moments. It validates my reason for being here: Our mission for helping other addicts to get their life together.”