“The Bear” tells the story of a run-of-the-mill Chicago sandwich shop that pivots and transforms into a fine dining restaurant. But restaurant kitchens of any kind are ecosystems in which class issues play out; it's a hierarchical structure that inevitably says something about social status. How well, or how well, does “The Bear” handle these themes?
Tribune Television critic Nina Metz speaks with Tribune's dining team. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Food critic Louisa Kang Liu Chiu grew up in a family restaurant on Chicago's Northwest Side and is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Paris, where she worked at Les Ambassadeurs and in the kitchens of Alinea and El Bulli, and was twice nominated for a James Beard Award for her restaurant reviews at the Tribune. (She was previously a fixer on Anthony Bourdain's TV series No Reservations.)
Food reporter Ahmed Ali Akbar joined Tribune this year with extensive experience in audio, culture and food writing. He began covering American Muslim food culture 10 years ago for BuzzFeed and BuzzFeed News, primarily writing about halal and immigrant-owned businesses. In 2022, he won a James Beard Award for feature writing.
Nina: The Belzatto family is working class, but Carmy's professional achievements have elevated him to another level. It got me thinking more generally. Some chefs are formally trained, but it's not a requirement. Working in a fine dining restaurant may be one of the few jobs with status and prestige that doesn't require a degree. Is the kitchen a rare meritocracy where class fluidity exists… or is it more complicated than that?
Louisa: It's more complicated than that! It depends on where you are, and what country you're in, but generally speaking, it's not surprising that I've been one of the few women and one of the few people of color cooking in world-class kitchens. And even now, as a commentator who thinks carefully about issues of equity and justice, it's still hard to find fine dining restaurants run by diverse chefs. And that's not due to a lack of opportunity and privilege, but rather a lack of talent.
Ahmed: As a reporter, I'm familiar with family-run halal restaurants that have little or no interest in fine dining. In their narrow sphere of expertise, the kitchen is not a meritocracy where skill gets you promoted. In my experience covering restaurants similar to The Bear, I can tell you that many chefs and owners are realizing that they need to at least acknowledge the contributions of their kitchen staff to the menu. What's important is that there is a clear distinction between ownership and labor.
Nina: Luisa, from an economic standpoint, do you think chefs at this level come from different backgrounds? Do chefs who come from upper-middle class or wealthy families have an advantage in this world?
Louisa: They come from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, but not many, which means they really do need cash to travel the world for work and travel. stage They earn zero or little money. Or they live in big cities with popular restaurants or in remote areas. And as we know, the upper middle class, wealthy families, or wealthy people themselves always have the advantage in this world. It's not always obvious when everyone is wearing the same uniform and doing the same job. Until a chef friend invites you to his parents' villa.
Nina: I think the show is hit or miss when it comes to tackling class issues and entitlement. I loved an episode this season that revealed how Tina ended up working at Chicagoland's Original Beef. Despite having real-world experience, she's hitting wall after wall in her job search because she doesn't have a college degree, while Mikey won't even bother to look at resumes. What did you guys think of this storyline and the way it tackled some of these ideas?
Ahmed: I enjoyed that episode too, and not just because Tina is definitely my neighbor. I wondered if that scene felt unrealistic to some people, but I think a coincidence like Mikey and Tina could happen in a restaurant. It doesn't matter your resume to get hired. You have to show that you work hard, that you can show up on time, and that you can take care of yourself, which she does in no time.
Though Tina is Puerto Rican, her story reflects a general pattern I've seen in covering immigrant-owned restaurants: The backroom staff may be Pakistani, Lebanese or Italian, but the chefs in the kitchen are Mexican, having learned the recipes from their bosses — contributions that may not always be recognized or fairly compensated.
Louisa: I loved the Tina and Mikey episode. Directed by Ayo Edebiri (Sydney)! But unfortunately the storyline was unrealistic and oddly polarizing. Tina raising the rent Mikey paid to cook at The Beef so she could support herself, her husband and her son is a nice idea, but unrealistic. It felt like it was written for people who have never done that kind of work and have to support themselves and their families with that salary. Like everyone can just survive on vibes.
Nina: I want to talk about how “The Bear” as a show reflects stratification within the restaurant. Does this often get racialized? A lot of time is spent on Carmy; a little less on Sydney and Carmy's friends and family. And while Tina has been the focus of her own episode, other employees have been downplayed throughout the three seasons. That's been the case with Sweeps (who's suddenly told he should be the wine expert) and Ebraheim, who ends up in charge of the Italian Beef takeout window (which seems like an afterthought to Carmy). “Are you okay” (To the regulars who still insist on serving sandwiches at lunchtime.) How accurate did that feel to you both?
Louisa: Yes, racialization is common, whether by accident or design. But I want to mention nationality here because I find it hard to believe that there aren't people of Mexican or Mexican descent working in the kitchen, which, as Ahmed said, is a significant demographic in hospitality in this country. As for my thoughts on accuracy and whose stories should be told more, I apologize, but I would like fewer hazy flashbacks for Claire and at least know Evra's last name, since his sandwich counter is what's keeping the restaurant going now.
Ahmed: I loved almost all of the characters in That Kitchen and would love to know more about them all.
I'll answer the question in a different way. For me, the pilot was the best episode. It shows the multi-layered dynamics and long-term trauma of everyone in the kitchen. Carmy's big head tries to fit into the small kitchen space, and everyone has their own reasons for resisting him, but in the end, they can't resist him because he owns the place.
Now it's season three and basically everyone has bought into Carmy's vision of a fine dining restaurant except for Ebra, which is a powerful metaphor if you think about it in Carmy's head, but in season three, Ebraheim's unfair situation is basically solved by simply giving him more help in the kitchen.
I agree that there was too much time spent on the flashbacks and not enough time to explore the new relationships between the characters, especially the people of color, and their new jobs.
Louisa, if I may ask, what do you think about Tina's passion for fine cuisine, despite her technical difficulties? I get that Marcus is a greedy young man, but I was surprised that Tina was so comfortable sticking to the menu items that were rated by Carmy's “genius” – and notable, Tina probably couldn't afford the food herself!
Louisa: I think Tina's commitment to fine dining comes from her being a woman who wants more for herself and her family. And she has a connection to food. You can see that in the lunches she makes and the crockpot dinners she makes every morning. I know exactly how she feels, as I'm a woman who didn't start working in the best restaurants in the world until I was in my 30s and 40s. I think she sees the beauty in Carmy's work, not necessarily in genius or status, but in the beauty of his craft, which takes us to another place.
Ahmed: Yes. That's the meritocracy that might come about with the exchange with Bear and Carmie sending her to culinary school. He's earned a lot of goodwill for that, and for giving everyone professional development opportunities. Whether that promise will still come true, and to what extent Tina, Marcus and Evra have benefited, remains an open question in Season 3.
Nina: To digress a bit, one of my criticisms of shows like HBO's The White Lotus is that it's not an effective satire because it's not interested in the experiences and (possibly poignant) perspectives of the people who do the hard work to keep five-star resorts clean. The housekeeping staff see everything (and are tasked with cleaning), and they're often treated as invisible, or worse (The Chambermaid, Mexico's 2019 Oscar submission, is the perfect rectification for this show).
For the same reasons, I was also interested in The Bear's dishwashers. Who are they and what are their backgrounds? Are they new hires or holdovers from The Beef? How do they feel about the yelling in the kitchen? (Maybe they just don't care about the drama!) I'm interested in all the aspects it takes to run a restaurant, so I'm interested in more than just the “sexier” job of coming up with elaborate menus. Do dishwashers ever interact with the kitchen staff, or are there pretty clear class lines? What level of status do waiters have in a restaurant like this?
Ahmed: I'd love to know more about them too! It's kind of hard to make sweeping generalizations, but I'd love to know how this particular dishwasher relates to the rest of the staff. In my experience, talking to dishwashers, cashiers, and other people who work behind the scenes can tell some really interesting stories about the restaurant and the industry.
The show vacillates between its interest in comedy-drama set in the workplace and its character studies of grief and family, and I find myself nostalgic that a longer TV season would have given these characters more space to break out.
Louisa: Again, it depends on the location. In the ultra-fine restaurant kitchens where I worked in Paris and Spain, the dishwashers had their own social circles and didn't socialize much with the cooks. There was a pretty clear class line, but maybe not as clear as you'd expect, because a lot of the dishwashers were men and they told me stories of building families and homes in their home countries. And in this country, there's still a lot of front-of-house disparity, mainly due to tips. In the same steakhouse, some servers make six figures while the cooks make just enough to survive.
FX's “The Bear” is available on Hulu.
