NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A Westchester deli man might be the only one in the world with his own fan club after finding his calling slicing a delicacy like few others can.
Len Berk has found his passion in life and the key is lox.
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“I have an affinity for the salmon,” he tells WCBS 880's Mike Sugerman. “Sometimes I think the salmon and I are one."
Berk just turned 91 years old in January and boosts his own fan club now.
“He’s known as the ‘Lox Whisperer,’” says fan Jonathon Coleman.
Though, the “Lox Whisperer” wasn’t always the deli man everyone knows him to be – he found his calling late in life.
Berk started behind the counter at the famed deli, Zabar’s, on the Upper West Side after a long career as an accountant and following a personal letter to owner David Zabar.
“He said, ’I never heard of a CPA who wanted to slice lox,’” Berk said.
Berk said he knew he wanted to start working in a deli when he retired, as he had been working with it at home for years.
“I’m always rubbing the top of the salmon, which is very oily. It’s a sensual experience for me,” he said.
Now, people come from far and wide to get his salmon.
“People come to see him. He works one day a week. He’s got a fan club – a definite fan club,” said Zabar’s general manager Scott Goldshine.
Coleman is one of the many who show up weekly as part of that club.
“He works like a tailor, or an artist. He’s not just cutting lox—it’s like he’s making a painting,” he said.
Berk says he feels compelled to continue working in the deli until he can cut the perfect slice of lox.
“I now have been looking for over 20 years for the perfect slice. I’ve been trying to make the perfect slice. So far, I haven’t done it,” he says.
Over the years he’s done some pretty good ones. And he has no plans to stop.
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