The Bear streaming on Hulu

You know beef stands don’t make their own bread, right? [READER]( [Food & Drink]( I hope you’ve watched The Bear, the harrowing, tension-fueled documentary embedded in a Chicago Italian beef joint. Noooo. It’s all fiction. You know beef stands don’t make their own bread, right? Chicago health inspectors don’t punish code violations with letter grades. Chefs don’t trade vintage denim for beef primals with flimflam artists in dirty parking lots. Actually that last one is somewhat plausible (or so I’ve been told). But these anomalies (and many more) are only an aspect of what’s made this eight-episode FX series (streaming on Hulu) so absorbing for restaurant folk and Chicagoans in particular—fans and haters alike. I’m with the former. I had no trouble suspending disbelief in most of the loooong creative stretches of the show, set in a grimy River North beef stand (Hello, [Mr. Beef]( inherited by a Michelin-starred chef (Shameless's Jeremy Allen White) after the suicide of his older brother. In terms of how gracefully the city integrates into the story, it comes down somewhere between the great [South Side]( and the execrable [Chicago Party Aunt](. (A luminous Malort billboard towers over the restaurant like a biohazard symbol, but are we really [that far away from that]( It’s the show’s portrayals of rigid kitchen hierarchy, white male chef toxicity, and the chaotic, all-consuming crucible of a restaurant hanging on by a thread that seem to resonate most with industry folk. The shit hits the fan in every episode, and fluidly demonstrates how unchecked abuse can become contagious in any high-pressure environment. It doesn’t hurt that the acting is tremendous, particularly by Ayo Edebiri as White’s sous chef and the moral compass of the kitchen, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays his cousin, an old-school asshole, resistant to any change to the “delicate ecosystem” he’s trapped in. But the show barely glances at alternatives to this hoary old system. If change happens it comes from within, through brute force, dumb luck, or bequests from the dead. Edebiri’s character arrives after stints at Alinea and Avec; her single run at independence from a succession of crazed manchildren in chef’s whites—a catering operation she ran from her garage—was a failure. Lionel Boyce, who plays a McDonald’s-trained line cook inspired by The Noma Guide to Fermentation, gets the perfect donut slapped out of his hands just at his moment of triumph. Did you think I wasn’t going to mention [Monday Night Foodball]( in this week’s newsletter? The Reader’s weekly chef pop-up is on hiatus next week, due to Independence Day. But that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna plug our summer schedule, which is dominated by chefs that have discovered viable alternatives to the traditional restaurant industry. Maybe The Bear will address these liberating microeconomies in future seasons, but until then I’ve got your hometown [radical hospitality]( right here: 7/11: [Dawn Lewis]( of [D’s Roti & Trini Cuisine]( 7/18: [Mazesoba]( from Mike “[Ramen Lord]( Satinover 7/25: Asian stoner snacks from [SuperHai]( 8/1: Keralan food from [Thommy Padanilam]( of [Thommy’s Toddy Shop]( 8/8: [Indonesian home cooking]( with [Waroeng]( friends 8/15: [Dylan Maysick]( of [Diaspora Dinners]( 8/22: [Vargo Brother Ferments]( 8/29: the triumphant return of [Funeral Potatoes]( 9/5: Labor Day break 9/12: [The Melanin Martha]( [returns]( 9/19: Global Asian barbecue with Umamicue and friends [The House of Wah Sun abides, in Irving Park]( The classic Chinese American restaurant will be reborn in a former Golden Nugget. by [Mike Sula]( [The Melanin Martha wants Black food to triumph over its trauma]( Jordan Wimby finds liberation in home cooking. by [Mike Sula]( 2020 [Mrs. Green has the cannabis collard green recipe that will melt your troubles away]( A former paramedic captures that—and more—in his weed-infused soul food cookbook. by [Mike Sula]( 📰 Tired of searching for Chicago’s most popular biweekly alternative newspaper? [Subscribe to our print deliveries and never miss another issue!]( Reader will be right at your door 🗞️ [Issue of June 23 - July 6, 2022 Vol. 51, No.]( [Summer Theater & Arts Preview]( [Download Issue]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2022 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. You opted in to receive emails from the Chicago Reader. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616