CHICAGO — “The Bear” is back with a storyline about a surprisingly big restaurant review.
It gets weird when the fictional world of The Bear restaurant bleeds into my real world as a food critic.
“Their fate hangs in the balance pending a review in the Chicago Tribune,” writes my fellow Tribune critic Nina Metz in her mixed three-star review of Season 3.
So what does “The Bear” series get right and wrong about how I would review the Bear restaurant as the real Chicago Tribune food critic?
Spoiler alert! The following includes details from Seasons 1 to 3 of the show. If you want to protect your viewing experience, go watch, then come back.
OK, let it rip!
If you haven’t been watching the Emmy Award-winning dark comedy drama series, you probably still know it has something to do with Italian beef. The show starts with a fictional sandwich stand called the Original Beef of Chicagoland, better known as the Beef. That’s based on the Original Mr. Beef on Orleans Street, better known as Mr. Beef, the real stand in the River North neighborhood.
Eventually, the Beef becomes the Bear, a fine dining restaurant, retaining its chaotic cast of characters.
Chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (played by Jeremy Allen White) and his chef de cuisine Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) lead the transformation. She also collaborates with him on their debut tasting menu. They have help from Carmy’s “cousin” Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), a close family friend who once ran the stand’s counter, but now runs the restaurant’s front of the house.
Season 2 ended after a heartbreaking friends and family testing night. Season 3 begins the next day, with the business officially open.
But let’s go back to Season 1, (Episode 6: “Ceres”) when Sydney gives a dish she’s working on as a special to a diner at the beef shack in transition.
“Hi, um, these are cola-braised short ribs with risotto, and they’re yours,” she says.
He asks, “Really?”
“Yep, I had an extra,” she replies. “And I’m Sydney, if you need anything else.”
He says, “Well, thank you, Sydney.”
Then we learn that the diner wrote a rave review (Episode 7: “Review”) in the fictional Chicago Telegraph newspaper.
“‘The menu is slightly updated and it’s clear more changes are coming,’” reads the Beef’s Somali veteran cook Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson).
“‘The sandwiches are so delicious as ever, but the standout dish that encapsulates all this was the risotto with braised beef,’” he continues. “‘The rice was luscious with a surprising ribbon of brine running through the sauce.’”
That review never should have been based on a free dish!
If Sydney had offered her plate to me, I would have automatically declined, saying I appreciate the offer, but can’t accept, because I want to support a small business. That’s my standard response on those rare occasions. Ultimately, I would’ve gone back to order the dish on my own before ever mentioning it in a review.
But we know that didn’t happen because the risotto with the “ribbon of brine” never made it to the menu even as a special!
Fast-forward to Season 3 (Episode 4: “Violet”) when Carmy’s sister and business co-owner Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto (Abby Elliott) walks into the kitchen after taking a call.
“Why is the Tribune coming to take pictures?” she asks.
Carmy answers with an expletive.
Sydney says, “Because we’re being reviewed.
Sous chef Bettina “Tina” Marrero (Liza Colón-Zayas) asks, “Like, tonight?”
Sydney says, “Like they’ve already been here.”
What “The Bear” gets wrong here is that Natalie would never need to ask why the Tribune is coming.
I would have sent an email with a subject line that clearly reads “Chicago Tribune review: The Bear.” I would’ve explained that I was working on a review, and asked if our photographer could come to take photos of some food and drink, plus a portrait of the chef, or chefs in this case. It’s a request, not a mystery demand.
What “The Bear” gets right is the timing. The restaurant held its friends and family tasting night on May 26, 2023, according to the calendar shown, and opened to the public the next night. Carmy says he quit smoking 41 days ago, so that brings us to early or mid-July, because time in “The Bear” isn’t always clear.
I still wait at least a month before going for a first review visit. But we don’t know when the fictional Trib critic actually went. I would have waited a little longer for a final review visit since the Bear changes their menu so much based on seasonal farmers market sourcing.
Photo day comes (Episode 5: “Children”) and our chaotic characters get the dining room ready.
Richie asks the photographer, “So, uh, how was the review?”
“Oh, they don’t tell me,” he replies. “I just show up and shoot.”
What “The Bear” gets right is that no, I don’t share a finished review with anyone before it’s published, except my editors.
But what “The Bear” gets so wrong here is that any one of our photographers would “‘just show up and shoot!’” They are award-winning journalists on assignment — who don’t just show up and shoot.
And real Chicago Tribune photographers have faced down more challenges than floor refinisher Sammy Fak (John Cena), brother to handyman and runner Neil Fak (Matty Matheson), who demands, “Hey! What’s it say?”
After Richie defuses the situation, the photographer asks, “Can you ask them to prep the dish?”
“What dish?” asks Richie.
What “The Bear” gets right is that yes, our photographer will have my requests for photos.
What “The Bear” gets wrong is that no one at the restaurant knows about the dish. I would have confirmed it with Natalie and Carmy. They would’ve chosen to re-create the changed tasting menu dish or just make the current version.
Time goes by (Episode 9: “Apologies”) and investor James “Cicero” Kalinowski, better known as Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) asks if Carmy knows when the review is coming.
“No,” answers Carmy.
What “The Bear” gets wrong is that they wouldn’t know. I share the date and time that your review goes live online, and when it’s published in print. I get it, especially as someone who grew up working in my family’s chop suey shop, staged at some of the best restaurants in Chicago and around the world and worked for a screamer chef as part of a team that earned a Michelin star.
Finally, (Episode 10: “Forever”) in a flashback we see Cicero say to Carmy, “I’m telling you that if we get a bad review, I gotta cut the f—ing string.”
After Carmy attends the final service of the fictional depiction of the real restaurant Ever in Chicago, and faces down a former toxic chef from New York, he receives a Google alert on his phone: “Chicago Tribune restaurant review: The Bear.”
Keywords flash by fast as he reads the review: confusing, excellent, culinary, dissonance, innovative, brilliant, sloppy, inconsistent, delicious, simple, complex, disappointed, Berzatto, subtract, overdone, incredible, tired, stale, talent.
His phone also shows notifications for four missed calls from Cicero, and five from Computer (Brian Koppelman), their money guy.
What “The Bear” gets wrong is that one bad review can break a restaurant. I unfortunately had to give a half-star review to the Wieners Circle, the most notorious hot dog stand in Chicago. But in a dramatic redemption story, just months later they earned a Chicago Tribune Food Award.
Plus we know from Cicero and Computer that there’s a lot more going on with money that has nothing to do with the restaurant.
What “The Bear” might get right is the review itself from what we can see about the food.
But I sure as heck would have reviewed the new Italian beef sandwiches too! As I did with the Filipino-inspired combos with fatty longganisa sausage and sliced pork adobo by chefs, owners and spouses Tim Flores and Genie Kwon in my four-star review of Kasama. Kwon appears in the final episode of the new season at the chefs’ table.
My reviews are about much more than the food. They’re about the experience as a whole. And most importantly the stories, sometimes real-life dark comedy dramas, behind it all.
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