Sitting in a 1923 building that was once a butcher shop, the Mock Crest Tavern opened in the 1940s as a beer parlor and endures as a Kenton neighborhood favorite, hosting live music, bingo, trivia, and karaoke. But David Finley, a store manager at Starbucks, and Cam Schwartzkopf, who recently “retired” from 13 years doing hair and is training to be a flight attendant, don’t tend to come on those busy nights packed with activities (and people). Instead, they like to mosey in after work, when it’s easy to find a table, and check in with the friends they’ve made over the past decade, fellow customers and staff alike. Longtime bartender Linda Flaherty hopes she’s enough of a VIP that Schwartzkopf will keep cutting her hair in his “retirement.”

Favorite Thing: “They’re just li’l veggie sliders. Usually they just come with cheese…and then the burger sauce and the fried onions. Linda knows I love tomato and lettuce, so she adds tomato and lettuce on it for me, and he’s a no-tomato person,” says Finley. Adds Schwartzkopf: “Anytime anyone’s wondering if they should get fries are tots, we tell them: always fries. They’re fresh-cut.”

When It Began: “It used to be late-night happy hour,” says Finley. “That’s how it started, when we were young and poor.” They had to be careful not to get to the bar too early. “We’d wait in bed hungry,” Schwartzkopf recalls, “and we’re like, ‘It’s 9:45. By the time we walk over it will be 10 and it will be happy hour!’”

Merry Go Round: The sliders have sustained the couple through a series of dietary life changes. “[Cam] was vegetarian, and I was not,” says Finley, recalling when he ate the regular sliders and Schwartzkopf got the veggie ones. “Then I became vegan for a number of years and switched over to the veggie with no cheese. Now I’m back to just being vegetarian.” Schwartzkopf is currently
pescetarian, and on those rare occasions he strays from his usual order, he likes the tuna melt. Finley sometimes opts for the Egg Mockmuffin. “But still with the fries.” 

Here Comes a Regular: Finley and Schwartzkopf are consistent with their weekly visits, but they’re far from the most frequent customers at the Mock Crest. “A lot of people come in every day, for socializing and drinking, but mainly socializing,” says Brenna Kokernak, who’s been tending bar here for almost a decade. “It’s rare for people to come in where I don’t know their name.”