No, it’s not just because Carmy is easy on the eyes—read all about the titillating television series making viewers say, "yes, chef!"
Since premiering on the 23rd of June earlier this year, Christopher Storer’s The Bear has captivated audiences with its gripping and intense storyline. Starring Jeremy Allen White (Shameless) as the show’s main character, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, the new FX series has been praised for capturing the merciless, tormenting underbelly of the restaurant industry in both the world’s finest kitchens and the family-run joint around the corner.
Chef Carmy humbly boasts a spectacular resume, decorated with stints at Noma and The French Laundry, Food & Wine’s recognition for Best New Chef, and even a James Beard Award nomination for Rising Star Chef. However, the promising chef leaves his post at a certain New York City fine dining institution (lauded as not only the best in the country but across the planet) to take charge of The Original Beef of Chicagoland (aka “The Beef”), his family’s sandwich shop. The casual, somewhat dysfunctional deli was previously run by his late brother Michael, who had recently left the shop to Carmy in his will.
From the get-go, Carmy is a Michelin-trained fish out of water. Unimpressed (if not, repulsed) by his decorated experience in the world’s most prestigious restaurants, The Beef’s longstanding kitchen crew continuously shun Carmy for his many attempts to streamline their haphazard, antiquated systems.
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At face value, the premise of the story is nothing new: a revered chef at the helm of a famed restaurant abandons the (supposed) "glitz and glamour" to command a far more casual, unsophisticated eatery (see Jon Favreau's Chef). But, while Carmy's consistent efforts to earn the team's respect, improve the restaurant, and keep The Beef open as they are barely breakeven may frame itself as the crux of the battle, a network of conflicts rapidly unravels.
As The Bear progresses, we quickly see that the series is not just a show about what it's like to run a restaurant—it's also a story about grief, guilt, self-doubt, and family strains. Simultaneously, what the show does depict about the industry, it does so very effectively—The Bear does not just portray an environment of anxiety and imposter syndrome but powerfully instils the same suffocating, debilitating angst in the audience.
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