The Bear
Created by Christopher Storer
Starring
Jeremy Allen White as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, an award-winning New York City chef de cuisine, who returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his late brother Michael’s failing restaurant
Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richard “Richie” Jerimovich, the de facto manager of the restaurant and Michael’s old best friend
Ayo Edebiri as Sydney Adamu, a talented but inexperienced chef who joins The Beef as its new sous chef under Carmy
Lionel Boyce as Marcus, The Beef’s bread baker turned pastry chef, spurred on by Carmy’s mentoring
Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina, an acerbic and stubborn veteran line cook
Abby Elliott as Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto, Carmy and Michael’s younger sister and reluctant co-owner of The Beef
Recurring
Edwin Lee Gibson as Ebraheim, a veteran line cook at The Beef
Matty Matheson as Neil Fak, a childhood friend of Carmy and Michael, and sometimes-handyman for the restaurant
José Cervantes as Angel, a dishwasher at The Beef
Oliver Platt as Jimmy Cicero, uncle of the Berzatto siblings and major investor in the restaurant
Corey Hendrix as Gary, a line cook at The Beef
Richard Esteras as Manny, a dishwasher at The Beef
Chris Witaske as Pete, Sugar’s docile husband, generally disliked by everyone
Guest stars
Jon Bernthal as Michael “Mikey” Berzatto, Carmy and Sugar’s late brother, who died by suicide via gunshot four months before the events of the series
Joel McHale as Carmy’s old executive chef in New York City, who was abusive and dismissive
Amy Morton as Nancy Chore, a scrupulous health inspector
Molly Ringwald as the meeting moderator of the Al-Anon meetings that Carmy attends
Executive producers Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo. Josh Senior, Hiro Murai & Nate Matteson
Running time 20–47 minutes
Production company FXP
Distributor Disney Platform Distribution
Release Original network Hulu
Some 25 or 30 years ago, a restaurant opened near here called “The Black Bear.” It was an instant hit, thrived, and expanded. It now has restaurants in dozens of states and has become one of the most successful chains around. But to locals, who have a certain proprietary interest in our local start-up, it’s known universally as “the Bear.”
So I started watching the Hulu series with that name with a predisposition to like it. My wife has worked at various restaurants (including the Bear) and I was a fry cook some fifty years ago. If the series turned out to be unrealistic, or worse, reality show nonsense, well, there are lots of other programs to watch.
The Bear turned out to be far better than I would have hoped for. This series is a labor of love by Christopher Storer (who wrote and directed most of the series and the interior shots are based on the real-life “Mr. Beef” restaurant in Chicago, where, according to Wikipedia, Storer “was a frequent patron and friends with the son of the owner.”
So why, if the restaurant is called “Mr. Beef” is the show called The Bear? It was founded by the Berzatto family, the male members of which are familiarly known as “Bear.” Bear-zatto, right?
Mikey Berzatto has run the restaurant for a dozen years or so, refusing to allow his kid brother to work there for unclear reasons. The brother, Carmen, aka Carmy, decides to deal with the rejection by becoming a top-of-the-line cordon bleu chef. He has been under the tutelage of an executive chef who makes Gordon Ramsey look like a kind kindergarten teacher. His self-confidence has been severely shaken by the abusive mentor.
Then Mikey commits suicide, and in a shock, leaves the restaurant to Carmy. Carmy returns to find the place is dilapidated, deep in debt, and with a fractious and ill-disciplined staff. He’s only there a couple of days when a health inspector stops by and gives the place a “C” rating, which loosely translated means “The bad news is you have rats in the kitchen. The good news is they all died of food poisoning.”
The only place from there is up, right? Well, not so much. Carmy finds he owes $300,000 to his uncle, Jimmy Cicero, who wants to buy him out. While not stipulated, it’s evident that were Carmy not actually related, Jimmy would be a very bad man to owe anything to. As part of a deal to keep Jimmy at arm’s length while he figures out how to pay the debt, he agrees to cater a birthday party for the uncle’s young granddaughter—and accidentally doses the kids with Xanax that got in the party refreshment keg. His chief aide, Richie, is a mercurical sort, and he has a deal going with the local coke dealers. He puts a competent professionally-trained new hire, Sydney, in a supervisory position. Sydney, who is no fool, takes the job with extreme reluctance. As she expected, this alienated all the staff, who didn’t appreciate a youthful outsider bossing them around. But it is exactly what the kitchen needs.
The season-ender manages to be both mystifying and gratifying. It raises many questions while ensuring that a second season (due out in about six months) occurs.
If the drama is full-throated, the realism, and the overall quality of the acting and characterization of the crew make this a superior show. It deftly captures the frantic sense of sheer chaos that underlies even the best-run of restaurants, and the personalities are full-bodied and robust. Even the ones that are colossal pains-in-the-ass are engaging and justify their presence and then some.