Keith Lee recently held an event on New Year’s Eve at a Las Vegas restaurant to honor the late owner, who died of cancer a few days ago.
The famous food critic shared a video on his TikTok account on Friday, calling his Las Vegas followers to visit Dynamite Korean St Food & Sushi/Grill for a taste-testing event, The Blast reported. He first reviewed the eatery in early 2023.
@keith_lee125 Dynamite Korean St Food & Sushi taste test Event 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic
At the time, Lee met with the owner’s family and learned that after opening his dream restaurant, the father was diagnosed with stage three tongue cancer. Despite his illness, the man continued to cook and serve his customers daily. However, the owner’s son reached out to Lee via text to inform him that his father had passed away on Wednesday.
Lee usually doesn’t ask his followers to check out restaurants, but he wanted to help the owner’s wife and son continue the family-owned business. In the clip, Lee also said he would pay for the first 300 people who visited Dynamite St Food & Sushi/Grill on Sunday.
In a subsequent video, the 27-year-old said the taste-testing event was a success and shared details on how it went.
“The turnout today at Dynamite Korean BBQ was more than I could ever imagine,” Lee said in the nearly two-minute clip, giving viewers a quick rundown of the event.
@keith_lee125 Dynamite Korean St Food & Sushi taste test Event 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic
Lee was seen talking, laughing and taking pictures with customers in multiple lines who showed up to support the late owner and his family.
“A five-hour wait time, line around the corner,” Lee said. “So I went, I said hi to everybody. I thanked every single person for being there. We took pictures, we had fun, we smiled, we laughed. Everybody was patient, everybody was understanding. I couldn’t say thank you enough.”
When Lee went inside to greet the mother and her son, he said she was overwhelmed with tears and thanked him for his support.
“She was shaking, she was crying. That’s what I did it for. I ain’t take no money. I ain’t got no deal on the back end with them,” he explained. “I just want them to know that the community of Vegas is here with them and they are not alone. Now I’ll gladly say, today was mission accomplished.”
Later that evening, the owner’s son, Steve, shared a video on the establishment’s TikTok account, thanking Lee and the Las Vegas community for helping his family and the business.
@dynamitevegas Thank you for being part of my dad’s journey & turning his dream into a reality. He is watching over us in Heaven. We are beyond grateful. We wouldn’t be here without you guys. God bless you all for every single customer who came to support, @Keith Lee Thank you so mucj for hosting this event and going above and beyond for our family. I don’t think we deserve all this praise, we are very grateful to have this much love and support. @VegasStarfish @RyuSauce Thank you so much for stopping by as well with your family. Happy news years and will be coming with new positive update in 2024! ♥️🙏🥲 . #sushi #foodie #vegas #lasvegas #vegasfood #lasvegasstrip #korean #japenese #kpop #food #family #dad #mom #business #korean #love #restaurant #startup #cancer #inspire #motivation #growth #goals
“We did it guys! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Everybody who came out to support our family business and, most importantly, to support my dad’s dream legacy business and building a successful restaurant operating on behalf of him,” Steve said. “Today was a very emotional day on New Year’s Eve. I didn’t expect this many people to come. I know the Keith Lee Effect is real. My dad has witnessed it when we first launched on February 14th of this year, 2023.”
Steve also thanked Lee for supporting small businesses and for how he transformed the restaurant into a now-famous eatery.
“We love you, you’re such an angel,” Steve said of Lee. “I don’t know how you do it for every single restaurant, mom-and-pop shop restaurants out there, you’re literally answering everyone’s prayers who were struggling — mom-and-pop shop businesses who just need the right marketing exposure to launch and to be able to compete and, you know, sustain a healthy family business.”
