The Bear season two was released with a bang and garnered even more hype than the first season, and rightfully so. The series follows a fine dining chef named Carmy who returns home to Chicago after his older brother Mikey kills himself, taking it upon himself to run the restaurant that his brother left behind.
Throughout the episodes of both seasons there have been several great-looking dishes featured either cooked or devoured by someone that looks like they’re genuinely enjoying it. You’ll find yourself growing hungry as each episode ticks past, and tempted to scroll through some delivery service apps as beautiful dishes are featured. Let’s take a look at the best looking food featured in season two.
10 Focaccia
In the season finale, there are a plethora of dishes that Sydney and Carmy came up with during their brainstorming sessions for the menu, and we’re quickly brought up to speed as Sydney and then Richie fire out orders to the staff. The focaccia is something that looks really special and delicious, but in all actuality, it is one of the easiest breads to make.
There’s something about the making of it, the amount of oil, and the care that goes into it as the chefs dig their fingers into the dough to create perfect craters. When Marcus takes a bite of it and the pleasure is visible on his face, one can’t help but wish to be in his shoes for that very moment.
9 Marcus’ Honeybun
At the end of the season, when The Bear is set to open and everyone is getting ready in their respective stations, Marcus presents Sydney and Carmy with what he’s created. He’s back from Copenhagen full of inspiration and creativity, and he’s set out a handful of small bites for desert.
One of these things is a honeybun that’s assumed to be given at the take-out window along with Mikey’s beef sandwich, since it was packaged so conveniently. Marcus’ honeybun looks decadent, flaky, and perfectly coated in icing, and one can only imagine how great it is once warmed up for a few seconds.
8 Mango Tart
In the third episode, the audience is torn with how they feel towards Carmy as he ditches Sydney to go spend time with Claire, and Sydney is left to tour select restaurants by herself. She goes on a foodie adventure, ordering multiple things and indulging in whatever looks good or whatever she can draw inspiration from.
One of the things she orders is a mango tart that looks like perfection with the way the fruit is curved in a perfect spiral. The way Sydney bites into the tart is very satisfying, as she picks the whole thing up instead of digging into it with a knife and fork. If you’re in the Chicago area or planning on making a trip, you can actually get this tart from Kasama, the restaurant that was featured in the show!
7 Savory Cannoli
When you think of a cannoli, you most likely think of it being sweet and filled with luscious cream, but in The Bear, it takes a savory route. Marcus made it when coming home from Copenhagen and named it after Mikey after brainstorming with Sydney and Carmy to recreate a cannoli from his childhood memories. They decide to make it savory by going with a parmesan-crusted shell filled with mortadella and cream, and the whole thing is topped with caviar.
The sides of the cannoli are crusted with pistachio, and it easily looks like something you could just pop right in your mouth.
6 7 Fishes
The way Carmy brings different elements of his family into the dishes that he puts together for the opening night of The Bear is very beautiful and yet a bit subtle if you’re not properly paying attention. During friends and family night, we get to see the chaos menu that both Sydney and Carmy put together, and the plate of seven fishes is one of them.
During the Christmas episode we got to see how dedicated Donna was to serving up the seven fishes because it’s an Italian tradition and there’s more than one meaning. Carmy’s rendition is more elegant and more captivating, as he takes seven different shellfish and plates them beautifully on a small plate that’s pleasing to the eye.
5 Christmas Feast
The Christmas feast that Donna somehow manages to pull together in her drunken manic state looks absolutely awesome, the table is set and full before chaos ensues and the food is ruined. The Christmas episode is, in a word, wild, and with different family members coming together to share this very tense holiday, more and more food is cooked in the very overcrowded kitchen.
Donna has butter all over her hands, her lashes are falling off, there’s food under her acrylic nails, but her bubbling meatballs and her ruby red lobsters look downright amazing. It’s overwhelming, of course, as she barks at Carmy to do 15 things before acting like she’s alone in the kitchen, but don’t you slightly wish you could have been at that table to smell all those amazing dishes?
4 Chef Luca’s Creation
When Marcus goes to Copenhagen and trains at the same school that Carmy did, he meets Chef Luca, and the two quickly bond as Luca teaches Marcus the true art of baking and expands his horizons. We watch as Luca describes this creative desert as a "minty Snickers bar," and Marcus spends quite a lot of time making the mint gelee section.
There are three other layers, two of which are different gelees, and a layer of marzipan before it’s topped with a thin piece of caramel cracker. It looks like something you would spend too much money on, but could possibly be the best dessert you’ve ever had, and we are all for it.
3 Deep Dish Pizza
In Richie Jerimovich’s episode titled "Forks," he has such a great comeback that it’s truly admired by the audience, so much so that people have praised this episode as one of the best on television this year. During this great episode, there’s a moment where Richie goes running from the restaurant he’s staging at and dashes to pick up a deep-dish pizza from Pequod’s (a real place!).
As he’s running back with it, you’re sitting there with your fingers crossed, hoping that he doesn’t drop it or mess it up somehow. He hands it off to the chef, who reconstructs the pizza to fit their aesthetic and plates it up in small circles before adding basil gel and micro basil to the dish. For someone who’s never been to Chicago and has never had deep dish, this looks especially intriguing and worth the trip.
2 The Breakfast Sandwich
Another treat you can actually get at Kasama in Chicago is the breakfast sandwich that Sydney orders during her big day out. It looks like it could fix just about any and all problems as Sydney assembles it to her liking, sliding a hash brown between the fluffy eggs and the Longanisa sausage, creating the perfect bite. It looks like something you’d want after a night out or maybe before you go exploring Chicago for a day, but we can all agree that it looks absolutely dynamite.
1 Sydney's Omelette
Coming in at number one, is the omelette that Sydney makes Sugar in the ninth episode entitled “Omelette.” Sugar is pregnant and properly stressed out due to the restaurant opening at an accelerated pace, and Sydney offers to cook her something. You watch, slightly hypnotized, as Sydney cracks eggs and strains them before pouring them into a hot pan glazed with butter.
The technique she uses to shake the eggs around will have you testing out your chef abilities in the kitchen to see if it really makes a difference (it does). She pipes in a line of boursin cheese before closing the omelette, and then tops it with chives and hand crushed sour cream and onion potato chips. Honestly, what could be better?