A salmon chopped cheese. A “dry” bacon, egg and cheese. Pizza from touristy joints in Manhattan.
TikTok food influencer Keith Lee’s tour of New York City was off to a chaotic start last week, and many locals were struggling to keep their cool.
“Me and my family are in New York, fresh out the plane when I got this DM,” Lee said in his first video uploaded from the city, where he was expected to visit and review eateries for his 15.4 million followers on TikTok.
A visit by Lee can change the trajectory of small businesses featured on his account. The 27-year-old former MMA fighter has amassed a loyal following who flock to restaurants he reviews — a phenomenon that’s been coined the “Keith Lee effect.”
The Las Vegas-based everyman food critic typically orders takeout from restaurants, then records himself eating in his car and gives reviews on a 10-point-scale. He’s said he always pays for the food and has family members pick it up to avoid special treatment.
A screenshot of the direct message shown in the video urged Lee to visit Taste Budz Deli in Queens and order the “2 Smoove,” explaining it was the “best salmon chopped cheese I ever had.” Lee obliged and procured the fishy spin on the classic NYC bodega sandwich.
“It’s a little salty in my opinion, but it’s good, tastes exactly like what it is, seasoned salmon, with a bunch of sauce, tomato and some lettuce,” Lee said after taking a bite of the salmon sandwich in his video review. “I’m not mad at this, but I’m also not crazy about it: 7.5 out of 10.”
He proceeded to try a regular chopped cheese from Taste Budz, judging it an 8 out of 10. Then a bacon, egg and cheese, which he describes as dry and stale: 4 out of 10.
The video, which currently hovers at around 4.3 million views and more than 420,000 likes immediately caused an outcry from New Yorkers on TikTok who were horrified by the idea of a salmon chopped cheese. The sandwich is typically made with ground beef, though alternatives have become more common in recent years.
“And what is a SALMON CHOPPED CHEESE ?!! We being sabotaged,” a comment by user @hoodieraven reads.
Soon, videos by New York TikTokers addressing Lee’s bodega jaunt started going viral.
“Who told Keith Lee to get a salmon chopped cheese?” a TikToker with the handle @_thecomedian yells into his camera. “Since when did people start making salmon chopped cheese?”
“No, no, why are y’all gonna start freestyling when he comes to our city?” he continued. “I’m not gonna lie, fish at the deli is crazy, insane, astronomical, bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.”
Despite such online protests, the Keith Lee effect was already at work Friday. Alex Riley, one of the owners of Taste Budz Deli, told Gothamist the store’s overall sales were up 40% after Lee’s visit, with double the usual number of “2 Smoove” sandwiches sold by 7 p.m.
“It was definitely a great surprise and that we were the first stop in his New York City tour,” Riley said. “He was able to get that publicity, so he definitely helped with that. We’re looking forward to it the weekend, really.”
The deli owner invited critics to try the salmon chopped cheese for themselves, admitting it was “controversial.”
“It was an experiment sandwich that we actually made for ourselves and then we gave it out to some of the customers here and they liked it,” he said. “So we ended up putting it on the menu.”
Even rapper and Queens native Waka Flocka Flame heeded Lee’s recommendation, posting a clip of himself in front of a neon sign at Taste Budz Deli on Instagram, with the caption “this food was [fire emoji].”
In Lee’s second video from NYC, he reviewed three Manhattan pizzerias: Joe’s Pizza, Prince Street Pizza and Bleecker Street Pizza. He didn’t seem overly impressed with any, but Prince Street came out on top with a 7.7 out of 10.
Again, an online uproar followed — and some New Yorkers disparaged pizza from Manhattan entirely. TikToker Taylor Michelle looked distressed in her response video.
“First we was in Queens for a bacon, egg and cheese,” she said in a video uploaded Friday. “Now we in Manhattan for slices of pizza? I’m lost, I’m confused, please, someone get this man a tour guide, please.”
By Friday evening, it appeared Lee had done just that. In another of his videos, he said he’d received a list of recommendations from @righteouseats, a local food account run by Brian Lee and Jaeki Cho that, according to their website, advocates for “mom & pop, immigrant, minority, & BIPOC owned businesses.”
Among the recs was Taste of Heaven, a soul food restaurant in Bedford-Stuyvesant that Lee reviewed in the video — much to the relief of New Yorkers who sounded off in the comments.
Eating in his car, Lee showed how meat fell off the bone of the jerk ribs he’d ordered. He said the restaurant’s rice and peas were the most seasoned he’d ever had and complimented the tenderness of the oxtail.
“Oh for sure, you’re right on,” he said, using one of his signature phrases. “I get it why y’all was telling me to get out of Manhattan.”
In the end, Lee gave every dish from Taste of Heaven high praise, with ratings of between 8.7 and 9.4 out of 10. He said he’d greeted the owners and left $1,500 to pay for the orders of everyone in line.
Lee later visited Aunts et Uncle, a vegan restaurant in Brooklyn, and Tamarind Island, a roti shop in Queens. “The food was so good, we decided as a family to leave a tip,” he said of the latter establishment. “But when we walked up, the owner started freaking out.”
In the video, the apparent owner could be seen outside the restaurant with his hands on his head, in joyful disbelief. “This is impossible,” he said. “I thought we had no chance, bro. I don’t care about what results, what happens after, bro, the fact that you came here…”
Lee didn’t say where he planned to go next, but wherever he surfaces, the “Keith Lee effect” might follow.
Leave a Reply