Len Berk, a 91 year old lox slicer, has returned to his post at Zabar’s after a one year absence due to the pandemic, the NY Post reports.
The Post writes that Berk has been behind the lox counter for the last 26 years, and has become a favorite among many clients which have included Upper West Side celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld and Jerry Stiller.
“People come to me repeatedly. Some people say that I’m their lox slicer and they’ll always come to me, even if they have to wait extra time,” Berk told the Post.
Berk was furloughed in March 2020 when the city entered a lockdown, during which time the manager of Zabar’s was asked about his whereabouts. “I was almost an institution there,” said Berk.
Berk worked as an accountant before Zabar’s, which paid him more, but didn’t give him the same level of satisfaction, and it didn’t seem to be his calling. “I have a way with salmon.”
Fans of Len and his lox perked up when Zabar’s shared the story of his return.
Welcome back Len! See salmon is a great health food and now even just slicing it brings you good health and happiness! You were missed!
‘The Post writes that Berk has been behind the lox counter for the last 26 years, and has become a favorite among many clients which have included Upper West Side celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld and Jerry Stiller.”
So he barely worked the lox counter at Zabar’s in the Murray Klein era, and it’s Klein that made Zabar’s into an extraordinary store. It’s gone down hill since he sold his control back to the Zabar family. Okay, not as much as Fairway has declined since the Glickbergs sold, and Jenkins (sort of the Murray Klein of Fairway) left a couple years later.