COVINGTON — Before there was a Waterfront, before there was a Covington Landing, before there was a Newport on the Levee, there was the Mike Fink, a historic paddlewheeler turned floating restaurant on the Ohio.

Alan Bernstein stands at Ben Bernstein Place and Riverside Drive in Covington. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        When the Mike Fink marks its 25th anniversary under the Bernstein family's operation today, it will do so with a new address — 1 Ben Bernstein Place. In renaming the drive leading to one of the Tristate's first floating restaurants, Covington officials honor a pioneer in Northern Kentucky's riverfront development.

        “I think Ben Bernstein is revered around here as being a visionary, a real pioneer,” said Tom Steidel, Covington's assistant city manager. “He was one of the first to take a chance on Covington's riverfront.”

        Mayor Butch Callery described the Mike Fink “as the first building block” in the development of Covington's Ohio riverfront and much of Northern Kentucky's in the 1980s and 90s.

        When Mr. Bernstein died in January 1992, Jeff Ruby, managing partner of the Waterfront, thanked his 71-year-old competitor for triggering “the whole evolution of riverfront dining. I don't think we'd be down here if it weren't for what Ben did,” he said then.

        Although Mr. Bernstein opened two land-based restaurants in the 1960s, his family's foray into riverfront dining and entertainment ventures can be traced to Mr. Bernstein's desire to save what was then Covington's only floating restaurant.

BERNSTEIN LEGACY

Besides the Mike Fink, the restaurant and entertainment empire that Ben Bernstein founded includes One Riverboat Row Banquet and Conference Center in Newport, Bensons Catering in Covington, Chuck E Cheese restaurants in Florence and Anderson Township, 14 Howl At The Moon saloons across the country, and BB Riverboats at Covington Landing.     The excursion boats — founded in 1979 by Ben Bernstein and Betty Blake — recently began a water taxi service to and from Cincinnati Bengals games.     Ben Bernstein's sons and grandchildren run the business ventures that he started. Jimmy, 53, is president of Bensons Inc. and oversees the Mike Fink and most of the other Bensons business ventures. Alan, 50, vice president of the corporation, runs BB Riverboats and handles the marine aspects of the family businesses. Alan's daughter, Terri Menefee, is the full-time operations manager of BB Riverboats and her husband, Brent, is the chief engineer. Alan's son Ben, 21, a licensed riverboat captain, plans to join the business full-time after receiving his degree from the University of Kentucky. Jimmy's son Brad, 23, is a cook at the Mike Fink.

        In the late 1960s, Capt. John Beatty was forced to move his restaurant named for legendary river man Mike Fink from Cincinnati's Public Landing to make way for the construction of Riverfront Stadium. So he moved the 1936 paddlewheeler across the river.

        “(In 1977), the Mike Fink was going to be sold and moved to New Orleans, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau didn't want to see that happen,” said Ben's son, Alan Bernstein. “Dad was on that board and he was assigned to see what he could do to keep it from moving. So he bought it.”

        Ben Bernstein had previously run the Gregory Steak House in downtown Cincinnati; and he and his wife, Shirley, operated the popular El Greco restaurant in Southgate. But the Avondale native had never run a floating eatery. His river experience was limited to weekend trips in the family motorboat.

        “When Dad bought (the Mike Fink), his attorney quit. His accountant quit. They said, "Bernstein, you're crazy,”' Alan Bernstein recalled. “Everybody told my Dad, "The river's a wild place. You'll never make it.”'

        But make it he did, despite a brutal winter that froze the Ohio River for the first time in nearly a century.

        “We put a barge up in front to keep the ice from hitting us when it broke up,” Alan Bernstein said. “Somehow we survived that first winter and kept operating.”

        In the early years, Ben Bernstein also won a series of battles with his Licking Riverside Drive neighbors. The disputes were over everything from the addition of a pole to provide power to the expansion of the parking lot.

        In subsequent years, however, many of the neighbors that Ben Bernstein battled with became some of his most devoted customers, Alan Bernstein said. The restaurant also saw a parade of celebrities that included Desmond Tutu, Cincinnati Reds and Bengals players and Maysville native-turned-movie star George Clooney.

        “People used to sit at the Mike Fink spellbound by Dad's stories,” Alan Bernstein said. “His delivery was classic. Dad could take a story or a joke that was three or four minutes long and stretch it to 45 minutes. He loved embellishing things and making people laugh.”

        In 1990, Ben Bernstein witnessed the opening of one last riverfront venture, the Covington Landing complex that he'd envisioned and helped finance.

        Even after his death, he continued playing host.

        Two days after the restaurateur lost his year-long battle with cancer, his family held a memorial at the Mike Fink, complete with food and drink. “Dad didn't want a funeral,” Alan Bernstein told the Enquirer for his father's obituary. “He wanted a party. His business was serving food and fun, and he wanted to be remembered for it.”

        E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com

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