The Last Queen
By Scott Millsop
The Last Queen
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The holiday season is usually associated with home and family, gathering with friends, relaxation and rest. So perhaps it’s fitting that our December NoshUp features a celebration of familiar flavors, a kind of comfort food that is part of our English-American heritage. Usually, we are featuring cuisine that introduces new flavors and textures, often spicy hot, sometimes just odd. Always good. But this go-round we’re going with English Food which may be a lot like going home for many of our Noshers.
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Take a trip to the pub for a pint and some Shepherd’s Pie. There is a jolly time to be had at The Last Queen. But first you must find it. For this one we’ve left the city for a bit of a country drive.
Photos by Bobby Tewksbury
It’s a quick trip to Enon on I-70, but maybe a country drive on Dayton-Springfield Road would be better. It’s not exactly scenic in December, but a tour of fields and trees, farms and subdivisions is a good tour of Ohio. This is not one of the quirky suburbs of Dayton. Enon is one of many little Ohio towns that has a charm of its own.
At the main intersection between Enon Rd. and Main Street you’ll see a double decker bus painted red. Park in that lot. The Last Queen is across the street. Before the restaurant opened in 2021 the location had an ice cream shop in the front and a bicycle shop in the back. Now it is an homage to pub life made of stone and wood. It surely has a local quality too because the bar is made from a large tree that once stood in Enon. Some of the furniture is also made from local wood. Right next door there is a new brewery under construction. This place is a destination. A gathering place.
Adrian Shergill is the owner, along with his wife and their three children. They landed in Enon when the wife’s father retired from the Air Force and settled there. They saw an opportunity and decided to open an English style pub. But first, they argued about names for a year. The rule was that all five had to agree on a name or move on to another. They were knocking around the world together and happened to be in Britain when one of the daughters remarked “I wonder if Elizabeth with be the last queen.” And there it was. Unanimous.
Of course, you will expect fish and chips on the menu as a Nosher. But you will not expect it to be so good. They use three types of flour plus Guinness to batter the cod and it is crispy and crunchy in just exactly the way it is supposed to be. A lot of Americans have learned to skip the boring tartar sauce and go with malt vinegar with fish. Don’t do that here. The tartar sauce will make your eyes light up with goodness.
Adrian admits that the Shepherd’s Pie is not standard pub fare. “It’s better. We put our own spin on it,” he says. “We put a spin on everything.”
If it’s new flavor sensations that you crave, we can also turn to the bar. At the top of the list on the chalkboard drink menu is the extremely British cocktail, the Pimm’s Cup. It is the official cocktail of Wimbledon. Almost nobody serves it in the Midwest but it has long been a beverage of high society in England. Pimm’s is a gin-based liquor with fruits and spices. The Last Queen adds Cointreau, soda and lime. Adrian suggests that it should be followed by ginger beer.
Among the bottles arrayed behind the bar are several labels of Single Malt. The Last Queen is a fine place to become acquainted with these bottles that are royalty among whiskeys. One of them is the bar owner’s favorite. It is aged in casks that previously
aged sherry. Ask the bartender.
Of course, there are fine beers and ales on tap, including Old Speckled Hen ale and the world champion Fullers ESB, plus six others.
They will soon be having English Tea Time events in that red bus. You might see it around Dayton. The community at Enon has made The Last Queen feel at home, and the gastropub has returned the favor. The staff smiles and says hello. They move with confidence and show the kind of enthusiasm that makes it all as it should be. There are soccer games on the TV. They show cricket games too. There is British rock on the sound system. There always seems to be laughter.