Comforting with a sense of time and taste at Lil' Britain

Becoming and maintaining a town staple can be an challenging path but also one filled with joy and hard work. At Lil' Britain, Bennington's local fish and chip shop, owner/operator Nathan Johnson understands that food done simply but done well with a personal touch builds customer loyalty. Twelve years after taking ownership, Lil' Britain Fish & Chip Shop continues to make its legacy fans and new customers alike happy with excellent taste in Downtown Bennington.

Johnson says he never intended to be a restaurant owner. He attended UVM and got a bachelor's degree in social work. From there, he worked at United Counseling Service for nine years before he went to work for the Council on Aging. He said he originally started with a psychology major at college but felt like that path would be a bit more difficult than the social work he eventually embraced.

Johnson grew up in Shaftsbury but says he never really thought much about food. Like many kids, he used to hang out at Friendly's as well as the Pizza House with his friends. "Those were the food places." Johnson met his wife while he was working at UCS. "She kind of taught me how to read a recipe. And we just started cooking." Johnson says he started to form an interest since they would bake a lot. He had a sweet tooth and admits he still does. "So I started to toss around the idea of going back to school, specifically to culinary school, but some of the places wanted you to have some experience in the culinary field." Johnson had none at that time. It was just something that he and his wife enjoyed doing. "It was kind of a new world for me. And so we talked, and we kicked it around for for a long time. Eventually my wife was like, 'You know, either you should do something about it, or you should stop talking about it.'

Interestingly enough, Johnson's experience in counseling, having a lot to do with human interaction, was a nice parallel to customer service. "I think that's where a lot of it helped form [this approach] because in dealing with your clients, [you] have to listen to them but also see what can you can do to help." Johnson applied for a dishwasher job at the Arlington Inn (in Arlington) and worked there for maybe a year part-time, just to learn. He was still working at the Council on Aging but eventually got the opportunity to work at the Arlington Inn full time.

The learning curve at the beginning reflected the stamina he would need to eventually run his own restaurant. "I remember that first night. My shift must have been like four to eight, or something like that. I just I remember thinking that we were done, and the guy I was working with was like, 'Oh yeah, there's one more thing.' And I was like, 'Oh my God.'"

The Arlington Inn was a fine dining restaurant owned by Eric and Elizabeth Berger. "They hired me. [Eric] was a chef in California and had been the head chef for a lot of hotels so he had a ton of experience." It was a mentorship in a kind of way, Johnson adds. "And when they brought me on full time, that's when I started actually doing some cooking." He says it wasn't "super fancy" at the Inn but it was just high-end ingredients that were cooked simply and well. "They had what they called 'the mixed grill' which had lamb, duck and filet. We did sautés....and there was a changing fish. So we'd do poached salmon or pan fried trout. And there was usually like a pasta dish." Johnson does admit that he never had a sophisticated palette. "I've always had a sweet tooth. If you're going to give me a steak or a cake, I'm always going to choose the cake," he laughs.

Johnson says the main lesson he learned from his time at the Arlington Inn was simplicity. "You go to some of these fancy places and they have these words that you can't pronounce...weird things stacked on top of weird things. And Eric was pretty much like, 'Just make it good and keep it simple.' And I think that's what we've done here." Johnson says at Lil' Britain, "every once in a while we talk about, 'Well, we maybe should add something' or 'We should do something different.' But we've just kept it basically the same." That is what people love.

The Arlington Inn was Johnson's only other food experience before taking on this restaurant. He says that the nice thing about Lil' Britain is that it was family-run by a husband and wife (Kevin and Sarah Wright — who opened it in July 2008). They had two kids...."which is very much like it is here. It's me and my wife and our kid." Johnson admits he puts a lot of time in at the business "but I think I see my family more than I would have...because they can come and go." Before his kid went to college, he would be here after to school or Johnson would be able to drop him off at school.

Johnson says he and his wife were frequent visitors to Lil' Britain before they became the owners in 2012. "One day, [Kevin] was like, 'Hey...do you want to buy a chippy?' which is another name for a chip shop. And I was like 'Okay.'"

To back up a little bit, both Johnson and Kevin were runners and would often jog together. "And I remember the day...we were out in North Bennington for the Bennington road race...we were doing that together...and he was just like, 'Hey, you know, if you ever want to buy a chippy...' So that's my memory."

Johnson worked with the Wrights part-time for that next year, "I would come in in the mornings, and work with them until I had to go to Arlington. And I remember that they would always feed me lunch or something." He says one day he asked, '"Could I try a couple of scallops?" He says he remembers going out to his car and having the scallops and being like, "Wow!"

Johnson says he and his wife have always liked seafood. His wife also had a particular penchant for British culture. "She's always watched the PBS shows so it was not only the food...we always really liked the food...but it was also the British culture thing that kind of drew us to each other."

But a fish and chip shop has to be done the right way. They can be done badly. Not Lil' Britain. "So fish and chips is a big deal in England," Johnson explains. "They actually have a fish and chip society where you can go to school there. Kevin and Sarah did go to England to take some courses." They taught Johnson that same approach.

"They told me a little bit of how it's set up." Johnson explains that he has two fryers for cooking. "So in a lot of places in England, they'll have one big fryer. And they'll put their stuff in cabinets, like when you go to the butcher." Johnson says places in England tend to fry their fish ahead of time so their fryers are set up that way. "When they put their chips in the big fryer, it cools the temperature down. And then as it cooks, the temperature goes up. It is kind of is the same concept here."

Johnson, by comparison, has two fryers that are set at different temperatures, but they're separate. "So I move the fish back and forth. One's hotter than the other. So I start in the hot one and cook mostly in the cooler one and then finish in the hot one. So it kind of replicates the same thing."

Johnson says the comment he hears from a lot from people is that their batter at Lil' Britain is kind of light and crispy. He loves that compliment but he points out that "pretty much everything I do, I learned from Kevin and Sarah as far as the chip shop goes." As is normal with every business, suppliers change over the years but of course, for Johnson, the fish, in particular, is a really integral element. At Lil' Britain, they use haddock instead of cod. Haddock, Johnson explains, is just a little bit more mild and a little bit more tender. "Both my wife and I like the haddock better because it just has a nicer texture. I don't think it feels quite as heavy. And it's just a little sweeter." Johnson also adds that the haddock also "gives you a very nice flake" when it is cut.

As far as the chips (aka fries), Johnson says they peel them from Idaho russet potatoes every day. He also has a special machine that cuts them to a certain size that is inherently British. One of the surprises is that he does not add any salt at all to them. The chips naturally have a certain texture because of the way the fryers cook them. "I think a lot of it has to do with the going back and forth in the fryers, plus my oil is very clean. I [actually] clean it out in between each order."

Johnson further explains that, if the oil deteriorates, it doesn't fry as nicely. "So if things don't crisp up as nicely, you can certainly get off-flavors. So I filter it every night and change it every week. And I think that kind of helps keep things consistent [because] you keep getting the taste of what you're frying. You taste the fish. You taste the batter. You taste the potatoes. You're not tasting anything else other than that."

He says he has a bit of a strange relationship with the chip shop because it is so much work but it does allow him freedom with other things. "There are certainly things that I have given up for it, but then I think, 'Well, what would I do?' I don't know if I would want to do a nine-to-five job for somebody else. Would that be any different?" He says there's a lot of things that keep him here. "I also have a lot of freedom. Like, if we have to close, we can. If we want to go on vacation, we can."

Lil' Britain doesn't serve only fish and chips. Bangers and mash are also a staple. As Johnson explains it, "Bangers are mild pork sausage. It's very different than say an Italian sausage. British sausages have a lot more breadcrumb in them. So the texture is a little bit more consistent and smooth." For the mashed potatoes, it is the same potatoes used for the chips. "We just mash them [plus give them] a generous helping of butter and half-and-half. You can't go wrong. And the gravy is just a brown beef gravy. People love it."

Johnson also has gotten to see people's routines and preferences over the years. "That's the great thing about having the open kitchen. People can see me. That's very important to us. It helps create memories too. When people come in...I mean, I know so much about so many people now. It's amazing." He laughs: "The things people will tell you... 'I'm just cooking your fish.'"

But it goes back to his time with UCS. Johnson is a good listener. "I try to make a connection with as many people as I can. I have a couple of great counter people that really work to make that connection. I like that 'Cheers' kind of feel, where somebody comes in [and goes] 'Hey, Norm!" or whoever it is. I think that helps create a memory, and helps people to feel comfortable coming back." He says, in that way, they try to keep it as simple and as consistent as possible.

Having been at the helm of Lil' Britain for 12 years now, Johnson's seen so much of many people's lives. "We've known customers that have died. We've known customers that have had babies. We've seen their kids grow up, be in school, and now they're off to college." While he admits that most of their clientele is older adults, they do get a lot of college kids, "sometimes [we get] the kids more than their parents."

He also adds that they do burgers which wasn't original to their menu. He says the Wrights added it a little bit later because people wanted it. "I think they had a conversation with a customer once about wanting a burger." He says the process is interesting because most of everything at Lil' Britain goes into the fryer. "That is very routine...you have the steps that you go through to do that. But then somebody orders a burger, and it just kind of like steers you in a completely different direction in a completely different part of the kitchen."

As far as those options, Johnson says they have the basic burger, a cheeseburger, a bacon cheeseburger, a mushroom onion burger and even a barbecue burger, which is bacon and coleslaw and barbecue sauce. He also adds that "we have a firehouse burger, which is bacon, sauteed mushrooms, onions and HP sauce, which is a British style steak sauce. Then we put a fried egg on top of it. People love that one."

Johnson chuckles that there was a lady who just came in the night before that wanted a mushroom onion burger but with an egg on top. "We can flex the menu. It's simple stuff. We also have tomatoes and onions and lettuce if you want extra stuff on it."

He'll also let customers mix it up with their platters. "It goes right back to listening to the customer. When you go out to eat, you're going out to have a good meal, right? You can fix something crappy at home if you want. But when you go out, you're paying money for a good meal. And I want everybody to have that. I don't want anybody to be disappointed." He understands that not everybody likes shrimp...not everybody likes scallops. "And sometimes they like them a lot, but they don't like fish. So we give them the option to [mix it up]."

One menu item people might not know about is their mini-pies. "We have steak, steak and potato, steak and kidney – which is a big British thing. We also have chicken and mushroom, and a vegetable curry pie. I was just making turkey pies this morning for Thanksgiving." He says they are all made from scratch. "I make the filling one day and let that cool overnight to kind of build flavor. And then the next day we make the crust and assemble them. There is a whole process since they are only like 'so' big." Johnson says one it is probably enough for most people because they're very filling. "I mean, you'll look at it at first, and be like, 'Well, maybe I could eat two of those.' But one is enough."

He says the pies are very good, "but if you ask me to fry your pie, your life won't be the same, because it'll be just fantastic. Fried pies are just [amazing]." He also adds that people ask for battered bangers. "I'll batter and fry those for you too. I mean I've battered somebody's fries for them. Battered chips. I was like "Ok! I can do that!"

COVID, as with everyone, changed the game for a little bit but Lil' Britain, who kept their inside dining area closed longer than most in the area, thrived both during and after. "Business just took a huge jump during that time.. But you had all these other hoops that people had to jump through. And they were willing to do it for a certain amount of time." But does admit customers go tired of it after a while.

"I think it was August of 22 when we opened the dining room back up. I was shocked because business had gone down quite a bit. I was just like, 'All right, we have to open the dining room. But [the business] just came back. It was amazing." While he admits,it does get slow during months like January and February, they are helped immensely by Lent since that keys into Fish Fridays. Summers are, of course, peak with people driving through. "My feeling about Bennington is tourists are very important," Johnson explains. "But you really have to focus on the people that are going to pay your bills, and those are the people that are local, or local-ish. We get a lot of people that come from North Adams and Pittsfield, and from over in Albany. They'll make a trek specifically for us, which is nice to hear."

Johnson knows he has a great customer base. "It's very nice to have somebody say how much they enjoy it. And people have memories. So many people have been to England [and tell me]. 'Oh, I remember going to England. This was just like that.'"

It also keys into nostalgia for families. It helps them to remember. "A couple of weeks ago, there was a woman in with her two teenage kids, and she was like 'My mom...when she got sick...this was the only food that she could eat, or would be willing to eat. And before she died, we'd get takeaway and go up the monument. We're just keeping that tradition on.'"

Johnson says those types of stories ,"they really kind of keep you going." He says he has been really fortunate "that I've had very few people that have been difficult or have been unhappy. And I think that again is the connection that we try to make with people. They can see me working. They can see everything that we're doing."