Exclusive | Viral TikTok restaurant reviewer is bringing a festival to NYC: I take food very seriously
It’s a festival worth its salt.Starring a who’s who of culinary icons, Keith Lee’s Family Style Food Festival is set to take over Industry City on Saturday, May 17, to assuage even the hangriest New Yawkas.“I’m more than excited,” Lee, the martial artist-turned-foodfluencer whose 17 million TikTok followers can make or break a restaurant, told The Post. “It’s gonna be amazing, not even just from a food perspective, but from a culture perspective, and from a community perspective.”Produced in partnership with Complex, the festival is set to bring together the trendiest treats from across the city, all under Lee’s trademark umbrella of shining a light on independent businesses. That includes slices from Brooklyn’s celeb favorite Lucali Pizza, sammies courtesy of Lower East Side legend Katz’s Delicatessen and the viral Thai eats from Noho’s Fish Cheeks, among a buffet of others.“There’s never really a way to include everyone, but we can try,” said Miles Canares, a founder of the festival alongside Ben Shenassafar and Bobby Kim of the Hundreds.It all began in 2019 with the idea of hosting a family-oriented food bacchanal.Complex acquired the festival last year amid larger plans for a food-focused publication. According to Canares, there’s a cutthroat competition for a space at the highly sought-after snack summit.“Our process of who to include is having a mix of institutions like Russ and Daughters, as well as hot spots,” says Canares.
He points to Williamsburg’s L’Industrie Pizza with its daily snaking lines, and Calvin Eng’s Cantonese-American restaurant Bonnie’s as two examples. Adds Lee, “I get hundreds of messages a day.”The festival, which last had a successful stint in Los Angeles in 2024, is also known for limited-time collabs and mountains of merch. This year, they include a juicy Scallion Pancake Burrito with Char Sui (see: thick slices of Chinese-style pork) cooked up by LES stalwart Nom Wah Tea Parlor i...