Viva Las Lester’s : Kevin Fung Emmène le Smoked Meat Montréalais À Vegas

The deal that sent Lester's Deli to Las Vegas started with a phone call and was settled on a napkin. In June 2023, Kevin Fung had just come home from a long stretch of travel through Europe and Asia, turning over the question that follows most restaurateurs on vacation: what could he bring abroad that was, in his words, "unique, that's good, delicious, and easy"? He didn't have to think long. "Smoked meat," he says. "And who's got the best smoked meat? Lester's Deli."

Fung (Ichigo Ichie, Yokato Yokabai) knew the Outremont deli better than most. Years earlier he ran a sushi bar just down the street, and he and longtime owner Billy Berenholc traded staff meals so neither crew got stuck eating the same thing every night. The two kept in touch after Fung sold the bar, and he dropped by during the pandemic to support the place. Every so often Berenholc floated the idea of opening a sandwich shop together. Fung, still deep in Japanese food, kept telling him not yet.

So on a Thursday night, fresh off the plane, Fung called to ask about Berenholc's plans for expansion. Berenholc invited him to breakfast. The next morning, across the table, he made his counteroffer. "He told me, well, I'm 66. I want to retire. So why don't you just buy it from me and do whatever you want?" The two sketched out a rough deal (that’s the napkin part) and took it to a lawyer. Fung took over in August 2023.

Lester's opened in 1951 and changed hands four years later, passing into the Berenholc family through Billy's father. From 1955 on, it settled into the fabric of Outremont: a Jewish immigrant deli that grew into a lunch counter for the whole city, with Berenholc himself getting recognized on the street. Some of the staff have been around nearly as long as the regulars. Danielle, now mostly retired, put in about 27 years; Joe, the delivery guy, has been at it for roughly 40. "People come in here and it's like they know their name," Fung says. "That's a big part of them coming here."

Easy does it

Fung figured it would take two months to learn the ropes after taking Lester’s on. "It took me a lot longer than that," he admits.

What he learned, mostly, was what not to touch. "I'm very aware of the fact that this place has been here for over 70 years, and that the key to success is the meat and the people," he says. The recipe hasn't changed. The service and the back-of-house operations have been tightened, but walk in today and the room, and the sandwich, will look familiar if not downright nostalgic.

The move from sushi to smoked meat was shorter than it sounds. Fung spent a decade as a sushi chef before running restaurants, and he sees the overlap every time a brisket hits the board. "It's a little bit art, a little bit science for the smoked meat," he says. "I'm kind of familiar with how to cut and things like that, and the importance of it."