Kevin Porter, founder and chef at Coach and Four, The Boot, dies at age 63 in Lexington hospital

By Tom Ferguson
Special to NKyTribune

Kevin Porter, one of the founders and the chef of The Coach and Four and The Boot Italian restaurants in Covington Ky., died on November 29, 2019 at The Albert B. Chandler Hospital, in Lexington. He was 63.

Kevin was born in Princeton, Indiana on August 14, 1956 and was raised all over the country: Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Kentucky. As a teenager, he started working the all-night shift at The Avenue, a restaurant in Bellevue, Ky., during summer vacation.

He loved telling numerous stories of the secret horse betting, illegal gambling and the rowdy after-hour drinking going on in the basement during the mid 1970’s. He recounted that his father and mother had very mixed thoughts about this first job. 

After about a year and a half at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kevin moved back to Northern Kentucky to Ft. Thomas. Pursuing a culinary career, he accepted a job as a sous chef at El Greco, a Northern Kentucky restaurant long established in Southgate. He had always loved to cook and decided it would be his passion for his life’s work. It was this combination of experiences at The Avenue and El Greco that lead him to want to own his own restaurant.

It was after he moved to Covington, in 1979, that he decided that this would be the perfect place to start one. He loved the historical charm of the city and its proximity to downtown Cincinnati. 

While walking a new pup, he passed the closed Coach and Four Restaurant on Scott St.  He saw that the gabled building with the leaded glass windows would be a perfect setting. He informed his two partners, who agreed — and by happenstance, the restaurant was available.

From the onset, Kevin was instrumental in the early transformation of Covington.  Starting in 1981, he first opened the Coach and Four and later The Boot Restaurant in 1985. Though both restaurants were located in a blighted, historical neighborhood at the end of the Suspension Bridge, neither business was hurt by this. 

Almost instantly, the popularity of the restaurants brought hundreds of loyal, new patrons into Covington every day — from chauffeur-driven dowagers, suburban families, the budding gay culture, local rehabbers; along with business, political and religious leaders — everyone was talking about the two new restaurants in Covington and their remarkable chef.

Kevin was also introducing a new trend in dining to the Greater Cincinnati area.

He offered the same high-quality cuisine that was enjoyed in the more expensive, posh restaurants, but with a more bohemian, laid-back atmosphere and more moderate prices. Pecan Chicken, Softshell Crab, Cuban Black Bean Soup, Sweet Breads Meuniere (or grandma’s way) became all-time favorites. Another major favorite was his special creation, Chocolate Mousse Pie, which Bon Appetit magazine said, “was worth a trip to Cincinnati in itself”!

Because of the first success of the Coach and Four, The Boot Italian Restaurant was spawned on Court St., back-to-back to the Coach and Four; separated by an alley. The Boot’s original menu changed up the typical Italian menu offered at the time. Mundane, generic items transformed into a more cosmopolitan, intriguing and exciting menu.

Veal Tonnato, Braciole, Pasta Pie, Tuscan Cabbage Soup and Chocolate Amaretto Pie became must-have favorites. Kevin, eager always to introduce new menu items, occasionally complained that it was almost impossible to change the menus because everyone had their favorite dishes he couldn’t remove.   

Kevin always learned from his travels. He could taste a dish, even though it might be unfamiliar, and tell if it was missing an ingredient that would make it better. He was always right. He was a self-taught chef, who learned well and quickly enjoyed regional recognition.

Ohio Magazine voted the Coach and Four one of the top ten restaurants in the state, even though it was just over the Ohio River in Kentucky. The Boot was voted the best new restaurant to open in 1985 by Cincinnati Magazine.

Both restaurants moved from their Covington locations due to urban renewal. The Boot moved to downtown Cincinnati, where it had a wonderful five-year run. The Coach and Four moved to the Edgecliff Private Residence in Walnut Hills where it did equally as well but closed during the building’s conversion into condominiums in 2008.

After the restaurant business, Kevin worked for Host Marriott managing multiple kiosk restaurants at the Greater Cincinnati Airport.

He also went to work for Meijer Grocery to learn the grocery business with the intention of possibly opening a small urban grocery and panini store in downtown Cincinnati. After much investigation and research, he decided that the timing wasn’t right and decided to stay with the grocery chain until the time of his death.

Kevin got tremendous pleasure being with his family. Holidays in Richmond, at his sister’s farm, were always overnight excursions with everyone bringing their kids and their dogs.

The days and nights were filled with cooking, fires, laughter, storytelling and enjoying wine.

Kevin loved shopping. He’d check out everyplace— from the trendy national chains, to the pile of numerous catalogs scattered about at home, to the small ethnic groceries in OTR, many decades before OTR became trendy.

He loved to fuss with his cars, decorate for the holidays and turn his historic townhouse’s courtyard into a private, lush getaway. But most of all, it was all about cooking. He enjoyed researching new unfamiliar cuisines and dinners, hunting down and finding the unusual ingredients and executing them to perfection in an awesome dish.

A martini, good music, wonderful food enjoyed in a well-appointed room, designed and detailed by himself, with a bottle of good wine and he was his happiest…family was always the icing on the cake!

Kevin is survived by his husband of 43 years, Tom Ferguson, mother Beverly Orman Porter, sister Kim Porter Wiley and her husband Dr. Tim Wiley, sister Karen Porter, nephews Casey and Keenan Wiley, Cody Porter and niece Brooke Porter Hinkle. Kevin is preceded in death by his father, Bruce C. Porter and his brother, Kyle Porter.

There will a Celebration of Life, to be announced.  Donations may be made in his memory to: The Markey Cancer Foundation, 800 Rose St. CC 160, Lexington, Ky. 40516