The Bear is one of Hulu’s biggest and best original shows. It stars Jeremy Allen White, who you might recognize from Shameless, as Carmy, a talented chef who returns to Chicago after the tragic death of his brother and takes over his restaurant. The restaurant in question is called The Beef, and it serves a Chicago staple, Italian beef sandwiches, which are a far cry from the Michelin starred work Carmy had been doing before. While he is determined to do right by his brother, Carmy struggles with the disparity between the restaurant he left behind and his new reality of small business ownership.
Allen White is joined by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, and Lionel Boyce as other members of The Beef’s staff, with each of their characters having varying degrees of culinary experience. One of The Bear’s greatest strengths — or drawbacks, depending on who’s watching — is the realism with which it depicts working in a restaurant. Writing for Bon Appetit, chef Genevieve Yam says, “I could barely get through The Bear,” because “it was the most accurate portrayal of life in a restaurant kitchen I’ve seen in a while.” This is part of the reason many viewers are wondering if The Bear is based on a true story.
Is the Restaurant in The Bear Real?
The Beef itself is not exactly a real restaurant, however, it is very closely modeled on a real restaurant called Mr. Beef. It’s located in the River North area of Chicago and was founded in 1963 and had already made a name for itself before The Bear began. Founded by Carl Bonovolanto and Tony Ozzauto, Mr. Beef’s first iteration was a food stand. It was later bought by Joe Zucchero and transitioned into having a permanent building. Zucchero passed away in 2023, but the restaurant has remained in the family and is run by his son Chris.
In terms of The Bear, the interior of the actual restaurant was used as a filming location for the show’s pilot, although afterward a replica set was built on a soundstage. Given that the restaurant is a popular destination, it makes sense to film elsewhere and give them a chance to do their work. The exterior, however, continues to be used throughout the entire series.
Something that gives the series a greater sense of realism is this way it has grounded itself in the Chicago food scene. Aside from Mr. Beef, the show regularly features real Chicago restaurants, be they of historic importance or fresh faces. This can be seen most notably in season two when Sydney does a grand tour of restaurants looking for menu inspiration. Some of the restaurants she visits, that you can too, include Kasama, a Filipino bakery, Margie’s Candies, a 100+ year old sundae shop, and Pizza Lobo, where she attempts to poach some of the staff.
What Inspired The Bear?
But when it comes to the story of The Bear itself, what was the inspiration? The restaurant setting of the story is important, but it’s also a vehicle for discussing the show’s central themes of mental health, family, and addiction. In an interview with Esquire, the creator of the show Christopher Storer says, “I had mental illness and addiction in my family,” and that “Some of the same thoughts that I was feeling about my family I noticed in a lot of toxic work environments.” So in this way, having a kitchen be a high-tension situation with a group of people you care about but can’t escape makes it the perfect setting to explore such issues in a more allegorical way.
Storer decided to place the drama in his version of Mr. Beef because the aforementioned owner, Chris Zucchero, was a childhood friend of his. Zucchero spoke to Variety about The Bear and revealed that Storer had said to him years before the show was made “I’m gonna write about Mr. Beef. I can guarantee you that.” So whether the desire to write something based on Mr. Beef or about the themes of the show came first, it’s evidently been a long time coming.
The Bear is not based on a true story, but there are “real” elements, such as the real Mr. Beef restaurant and the autobiographical themes present in the narrative. Mr. Beef created a jumping off point for Storer to develop these ideas and feelings into a grounded and realistic culinary drama. Interestingly, the show’s second season diverts even further from the reality of Mr. Beef when Carmy decides to revamp the restaurant into a fine dining location. When asked in the same interview with Variety if he would follow a similar route, Zucchero, who refuses to watch anything featuring Mr. Beef, says succinctly, “Abso-f—ing-lutely not.”