Jeremy Allen White is back in the windy city. Though he left behind the long-running Chicago-set dramedy Shameless back in 2021, he didn’t leave behind the city, and this time he’s cooking up a storm amongst the CTA red lines. White stars as acclaimed Chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in the upcoming FX on Hulu drama series The Bear, a sizzling new show about the bustling restaurant business in Chicago and the daily struggle to stay afloat. After years away, Carmy is called back home in the wake of a family tragedy, and he finds himself taking over the family-run sandwich shop, “The Original Beef of Chicagoland.” With a bustling kitchen as the primary setting, the show promises to serve up countless appetizers, burns, and sandwiches with a side of crackling performances.
The Bear marks White's return to television in a series regular role. Joining him in the kitchen is actor Ebon-Moss Bachrach as Richie, the stubborn restaurant manager and former best friend to Carmy’s deceased brother, Mikey. As Carmy dreams of sprucing up the by-the-books sandwich menu, he often butts heads with Richie as he’s a stickler for tradition. Ayo Edebiri (Big Mouth) co-stars as Sydney, a new talented chef Carmy brings on in hopes of adding new ideas and style to the menu. The cast is rounded out by Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina and Edwin Lee Gibson as Ebraheim, and as Carmy takes command of the ship, too many cooks in the kitchen prove to be both a blessing and a curse.
Chicago is known for its delicious array of restaurants thanks to its many thriving cultures and is often listed as one of the top food cities on end-of-the-year lists. Whether it’s a Chicago dog, Italian beef sandwich, or a deep-dish pizza, Chicago has all the classics, and The Bear is looking to spice up the city’s cuisine with some new sauce. The series creator Christopher Storer (Dickinson) also serves as the co-showrunner and co-executive producer alongside Joanna Calo, who is also directing. As the series proudly embraces the Windy City and all its food quirks, it serves up a homemade slice of a chaotic kitchen cooking up a storm. Here, you will find all the information you need to watch The Bear. It also might be smart to have an Italian beef sandwich or two handy in case your stomach starts grumbling from all the tasty dishes on display.
Is The Bear Streaming Online?
The Bear is an FX on Hulu original and will stream exclusively on Hulu. To watch the series, viewers need to subscribe to Hulu with a monthly subscription. The Bear will premiere on Hulu Thursday, June 23, 2022. All seven episodes in Season 1 will be released simultaneously and can be viewed all at once. Each episode of the drama series clocks in at around thirty minutes in length.
Watch the High Stress, Sizzling Trailer for The Bear
Working in a kitchen involves a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Customers are in a rush, they’re hungry, and they typically outnumber the staff 100 to 1. In The Bear trailer, Carmy Berzatto returns home to Chicago after living his culinary dreams all over the world to take over the family restaurant. The trailer unfolds at a rapid pace as it cuts between melting sandwiches, furious chopping, and lots of yelling. As Carmy attempts to keep the restaurant going amidst his grief, daily catastrophes, and money problems, he never stops dreaming up new recipes. Other chefs in the restaurant question his authority, but they never stop cooking or sweating either, and the first look at the series offers an exhilarating taste of all the high-stakes drama to come. While the trailer mostly sticks inside the friendly yet stifling confines of the kitchen, it also unveils various snapshots all over of Chicago as it celebrates one of the city’s most beloved food dishes: The Italian beef sandwich.
More Shows and Movies to Watch Like The Bear
Still hungry for more? There’s a whole menu of fast-paced, high-intensity cooking shows out there to consume. As The Bear highlights both the discipline needed to sustain a successful restaurant and the crucial relationships between chefs behind the scenes, it drives home all the necessary ingredients for a great, cooking drama. Here are a couple more titles to check out.
While “The Original Beef of Chicagoland” may look like a simple sandwich shop on the outside in The Bear, it’s much more than that. It’s part of the beating heart of the community where local Chicagoans go for their daily meals, and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives understands the importance of finding the brilliance in everyday meals. Host Guy Fieri travels all around America in his red convertible as he discovers one-of-a-kind restaurants that serve up everything from mouthwatering cheeseburgers to a perfect bowl of Poke. Many of the restaurants he visits are family-run, and the series takes us behind the scenes to the kitchen where the chefs walk viewers through their most popular meals. It’ll make you think twice the next time you’re on a road trip and are tempted to stick with a comforting chain, as the little diners on the side of the road have just as much to offer with more heart.
By now, everyone knows Stanley Tucci is a foodie. With his hit CNN food series Searching for Italy, Tucci has emerged onto the food scene as not only a chef but a connoisseur of pasta and pastries, but his roots in Italian food go back much further. Tucci made his directorial debut with the cult classic culinary film Big Night in 1995, and in it, he co-stars alongside Tony Shalhoub as his brother, and the two play Italian immigrants operating an Italian restaurant called “Paradise” located on the Jersey Shore during the 1950s. All the incredible shots of food bubbling over in the kitchen will have your mouth watering, and Tucci’s love for food oozes through in every scene. It’s comical, stressful, and nostalgic as the brothers attempt to keep their integrity in serving true Italian dishes amongst starving, grumbling customers.
If you’re searching for another iconic sandwich to go alongside the Italian beef in The Bear, try out Chef. Jon Favreau stars as chef Carl Casper, and he begins operating a piping hot, close-quartered food truck in Los Angeles that serves the “Cubano,” a classic Cuban sandwich that includes cheese, ham, lots of mustard, and pickles cooked between two slices of perfectly golden-brown bread. Also directed by Favreau, the 2014 flick does not skimp on showing the process of building the perfect sandwich, and there are too many stomach-growling shots of sizzling cheese and crispy bread to count. Sofia Vergara and Scarlett Johansson co-star, and as Casper rediscovers his love for cooking, he also discovers the joy of giving back by serving others a delicious, well-prepared meal.