It’s not often that former visits by cultural icons such as The Beatles and Mick Jagger are outshone by those of 21st-century small-screen stars, but for the busloads of travellers taking seats in the retro wooden booths around me at Margie’s Candies, the knowledge that the Fab Four once chowed down hot fudge sundaes in the very same place (very much emphasised by the cabinet of Sixties memorabilia nearby) is only mildly interesting: they’ve been lured to this old-school Chicago dessert bar by a fictional character, Sydney, from Disney+’s The Bear. Paul, John, Ringo and George don’t get a look in.
When The Bear was released in June 2022, it brought Chicago’s food scene a legion of new fans. Following the homecoming of award-winning, Chicago-born chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (played by Jeremy Allen White) and his attempts to manage the chaotic kitchen at his late brother’s Italian beef sandwich counter shop – think themes of gentrification, toxic masculinity and the horrors of kitchen hours – the show unexpectedly created a televised (or streamed) ode to Chicago, and to Chicagoeans, presenting the city in a gritty, stomach-grumbling light.
And suddenly, everyone’s interested in Chicago’s food scene. Chicagoans have long considered their midwestern town a “food city”, but visitors had previously been more interested in checking off other city offerings: river boat cruises guided by the Chicago Architecture Foundation Centre; visits to the po-faced portraits in Grant Wood’s iconic American Gothic; and O’Keeffe’s striking cloud painting at the Art Institute of ChicagoBut there’s a reason the show’s script writer and director, Christopher Storer, set the drama in the city (and no, I don’t think it’s solely because he grew up in a northwestern city suburb). It’s not just the deep-dish pies and hot dogs: Chicago’s food scene has been on an upwards trajectory for a while. The James Beard Foundation (America’s preeminent gastronomic awarding body) moved its award show to the city back in 2015. The diverse cultural history at play, as well as the city’s former role as the centre of America’s agricultural trade, is the kind of backstory that fuels a good food scene, too.
When The Bear was released in June 2022, it brought Chicago’s food scene a legion of new fans. Following the homecoming of award-winning, Chicago-born chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (played by Jeremy Allen White) and his attempts to manage the chaotic kitchen at his late brother’s Italian beef sandwich counter shop – think themes of gentrification, toxic masculinity and the horrors of kitchen hours – the show unexpectedly created a televised (or streamed) ode to Chicago, and to Chicagoeans, presenting the city in a gritty, stomach-grumbling light.
And suddenly, everyone’s interested in Chicago’s food scene. Chicagoans have long considered their midwestern town a “food city”, but visitors had previously been more interested in checking off other city offerings: river boat cruises guided by the Chicago Architecture Foundation Centre; visits to the po-faced portraits in Grant Wood’s iconic American Gothic; and O’Keeffe’s striking cloud painting at the Art Institute of ChicagoBut there’s a reason the show’s script writer and director, Christopher Storer, set the drama in the city (and no, I don’t think it’s solely because he grew up in a northwestern city suburb). It’s not just the deep-dish pies and hot dogs: Chicago’s food scene has been on an upwards trajectory for a while. The James Beard Foundation (America’s preeminent gastronomic awarding body) moved its award show to the city back in 2015. The diverse cultural history at play, as well as the city’s former role as the centre of America’s agricultural trade, is the kind of backstory that fuels a good food scene, too.
Parson’s Chicken & Fish’s city-famous Negroni slushy | Credit: Clayton Hauck
At Margie’s, I’m with the crowd: the dessert bar’s celebrity as a Bear filming location is more enticing to me than its far-flung history as a Beatles date-night location (and that’s talking as a child of a Liverpudlian). We’re hopping on and off a gargantuan Sprinter bus at filming locations across the city on a tour that’s being hustled along by Chicago guide Dave Zino, a former chef who has switched kitchen commands (“Yes, Chef!”) for a tour guide’s patter (“Chicago has two seasons: winter and construction!”). Our route follows in the footsteps of Sydney; in season 2, she hits Chicago's up-and-coming restaurants and best-loved establishments in search of kitchen inspiration. And because it’s a show about chefs, the venues selected are grounded in what’s being served, rather than the awards on the wall.
Zino’s tour, available through Chicago Food & City Tours, is a stomach-busting, cross-city adventure. We start – where else – at Mr Beef, 666 New Orleans Street. The River North sandwich counter was the original filming location for The Bear’s pilot episode, and further exterior shots of Carmy’s inherited restaurant, The Original Beef – all flaking-paint fence and rough-around-the-edges exterior – can be spotted in the following seasons. While interiors might not look exactly as they did on the show (the signed photos of late, great Chicagoans on the walls didn’t feature in the pilot; the sticky Formica countertop did), the city’s signature eat is a stunt-double: a crusty roll, soaked in gravy, and loaded with heavily seasoned roast beef and crunchy giardiniera. Carmy would approve.
At Margie’s, I’m with the crowd: the dessert bar’s celebrity as a Bear filming location is more enticing to me than its far-flung history as a Beatles date-night location (and that’s talking as a child of a Liverpudlian). We’re hopping on and off a gargantuan Sprinter bus at filming locations across the city on a tour that’s being hustled along by Chicago guide Dave Zino, a former chef who has switched kitchen commands (“Yes, Chef!”) for a tour guide’s patter (“Chicago has two seasons: winter and construction!”). Our route follows in the footsteps of Sydney; in season 2, she hits Chicago's up-and-coming restaurants and best-loved establishments in search of kitchen inspiration. And because it’s a show about chefs, the venues selected are grounded in what’s being served, rather than the awards on the wall.
Zino’s tour, available through Chicago Food & City Tours, is a stomach-busting, cross-city adventure. We start – where else – at Mr Beef, 666 New Orleans Street. The River North sandwich counter was the original filming location for The Bear’s pilot episode, and further exterior shots of Carmy’s inherited restaurant, The Original Beef – all flaking-paint fence and rough-around-the-edges exterior – can be spotted in the following seasons. While interiors might not look exactly as they did on the show (the signed photos of late, great Chicagoans on the walls didn’t feature in the pilot; the sticky Formica countertop did), the city’s signature eat is a stunt-double: a crusty roll, soaked in gravy, and loaded with heavily seasoned roast beef and crunchy giardiniera. Carmy would approve.
Al fresco seating at Parson’s Chicken & Fish, left, and a shrimp basket | Credit: Sydney Sang, Clayton Hauck
The family-run joint, in business for more than 30 years, is one of a handful of establishments in the city that can lay claim to having had a part in creating the “myth” of the Chicago Italian beef sandwich. Chicagoans will quibble over who makes the best in the city – there’s Al’s, Portillo’s and more – but Mr Beef popularised it, according to Zino. And The Bear has brought the street eat back into the zeitgeist. When we return to the bus, just before lunchtime, a queue is forming down New Orleans Street.
The show’s impact on the Illinois capital’s food scene can’t be understated: shining a small-screen (but global) spotlight on Chicago has undoubtedly upped the footfall at restaurants featured. The crowds at Margie’s Candies were all ordering hot fudge sundaes, à la Sydney, and Roeser’s Bakery (tagline: “Anything you can imagine”) has presumably had to upscale its production of dinner plate-sized strawberry doughnuts.
I imagine, though, that another effect of the show is that city visitors will venture further out, both from the city centre and from the “best restaurants” lists that so often structure travel nowadays. The Bear isn’t just about fine dining: it also showcases sandwich shops, dessert counters and backstreet bars like the city’s old The Green Door Tavern – even if they are only mentioned in passing.
Perhaps one consequence of the show is that Chicago visitors might consider the featured restaurants and locations, but then find a quieter spot to try. You might not fancy Alice’s Lounge for chaotic, late-night karaoke; you probably would enjoy a laid-back evening of live blues at the family-operated Rosa’s Lounge on West Armitage Avenue. Reservations at Ever, the Fulton Market district restaurant that makes a cameo appearance in season three, are hard to come by. Better to make tracks over to South Loop and stop in at the world’s first two-starred Michelin brewery, Moody Tongue. The sultry restaurant and bar pairs house-crafted brews with global-spanning plates, and even offers a post-prandial, behind-the-scenes tour of the working brewery. There’s a tasting menu, but you can order from an à la carte menu in the more casual bar setting, and ask staff to pair courses with current beers on draft. Don’t miss out on the dessert menu: the fudgy, gooey, 12-layer chocolate cake is worthy of the slices whipped up by Marcus at The Original Beef, and has been on the menu since they started brewing (and before the kitchen opened). It goes nicely with their bourbon-barrel aged chocolate stout. And reservations? You can make one the day before you dine.
The family-run joint, in business for more than 30 years, is one of a handful of establishments in the city that can lay claim to having had a part in creating the “myth” of the Chicago Italian beef sandwich. Chicagoans will quibble over who makes the best in the city – there’s Al’s, Portillo’s and more – but Mr Beef popularised it, according to Zino. And The Bear has brought the street eat back into the zeitgeist. When we return to the bus, just before lunchtime, a queue is forming down New Orleans Street.
The show’s impact on the Illinois capital’s food scene can’t be understated: shining a small-screen (but global) spotlight on Chicago has undoubtedly upped the footfall at restaurants featured. The crowds at Margie’s Candies were all ordering hot fudge sundaes, à la Sydney, and Roeser’s Bakery (tagline: “Anything you can imagine”) has presumably had to upscale its production of dinner plate-sized strawberry doughnuts.
I imagine, though, that another effect of the show is that city visitors will venture further out, both from the city centre and from the “best restaurants” lists that so often structure travel nowadays. The Bear isn’t just about fine dining: it also showcases sandwich shops, dessert counters and backstreet bars like the city’s old The Green Door Tavern – even if they are only mentioned in passing.
Perhaps one consequence of the show is that Chicago visitors might consider the featured restaurants and locations, but then find a quieter spot to try. You might not fancy Alice’s Lounge for chaotic, late-night karaoke; you probably would enjoy a laid-back evening of live blues at the family-operated Rosa’s Lounge on West Armitage Avenue. Reservations at Ever, the Fulton Market district restaurant that makes a cameo appearance in season three, are hard to come by. Better to make tracks over to South Loop and stop in at the world’s first two-starred Michelin brewery, Moody Tongue. The sultry restaurant and bar pairs house-crafted brews with global-spanning plates, and even offers a post-prandial, behind-the-scenes tour of the working brewery. There’s a tasting menu, but you can order from an à la carte menu in the more casual bar setting, and ask staff to pair courses with current beers on draft. Don’t miss out on the dessert menu: the fudgy, gooey, 12-layer chocolate cake is worthy of the slices whipped up by Marcus at The Original Beef, and has been on the menu since they started brewing (and before the kitchen opened). It goes nicely with their bourbon-barrel aged chocolate stout. And reservations? You can make one the day before you dine.
Ina Mae Tavern in Wicker Park
Where Chicago’s food scene really thrives, though, are in the casual, neighbourhood restaurants – the ones that buzz with Chicagoans who live around the corner and frequent these reasonably priced establishments on a weekly basis. Places like Parson’s Chicken & Fish, a trio of laid-back spots dotted across Chicago’s coolest neighbourhoods that serve moreish hot fried chicken sandwiches, shrimp baskets and fish fry, plus a page-long drinks menu packed with city-famous negroni slushies and, my favourite, the “preparada” – a Modelo beer stirred with pickle juice and a spicy chamoy sauce. Or, La Josie, a family-owned Mexican restaurant (the second run by chef Pepe Barajas and his clan), which, with its brutalist, concrete interiors and bifolding pavement windows, really doesn’t fit the blueprint for an old-school, family-style restaurant. But the clue is in the name, which it shares with Barajas’ late aunt, and the menu of tamales, tacos, ceviches and enchiladas, which borrows from the family’s recipe book.
Where Chicago’s food scene really thrives, though, are in the casual, neighbourhood restaurants – the ones that buzz with Chicagoans who live around the corner and frequent these reasonably priced establishments on a weekly basis. Places like Parson’s Chicken & Fish, a trio of laid-back spots dotted across Chicago’s coolest neighbourhoods that serve moreish hot fried chicken sandwiches, shrimp baskets and fish fry, plus a page-long drinks menu packed with city-famous negroni slushies and, my favourite, the “preparada” – a Modelo beer stirred with pickle juice and a spicy chamoy sauce. Or, La Josie, a family-owned Mexican restaurant (the second run by chef Pepe Barajas and his clan), which, with its brutalist, concrete interiors and bifolding pavement windows, really doesn’t fit the blueprint for an old-school, family-style restaurant. But the clue is in the name, which it shares with Barajas’ late aunt, and the menu of tamales, tacos, ceviches and enchiladas, which borrows from the family’s recipe book.
Beer and pizza at Pizza Lobo, Logan Square | Credit: Garrett Sweet
Cindy’s, the airy rooftop restaurant atop the Venetian Gothic building, home to the Chicago Athletic Association hotel, is another. Here, you can dine on Island Creek oysters and Thai green curry prawns, and enjoy killer views of Millennium Park, Anish Kapoor’s “The Bean” and Lake Michigan, before schlepping down to hotel bedrooms that play with the sporting history of the historic property – pommel horses sit at the bottom of beds and, in lieu of fluffy white cloaks, boxing-inspired flannel robes are provided for post-shower warmth.
And in Wicker Park, a low-key neighbourhood on the city’s western flank that’s home to vintage shops and hipsters, spots like Ina Mae Tavern are turning heads: the funky Southern restaurant serves bourbon-spiked cocktails and Nola po boys (traditional Louisianan meat sandwiches).
Ditto in Logan Square, a district on Chicago’s North Side, where we jump off Zino’s bus outside Pizza Lobo, the neighbourhood tavern and slice shop that has become Bear-famous for its back alley. Here, amid the trash cans, the Blue Line metro rattling above, is where sous chef Sydney tries to poach a few kitchen workers catching a break, after devouring a quarter slice of pepperoni pizza from the takeaway hatch – a symbolic piece of TV in a city wedded to deep-dish.
Cindy’s, the airy rooftop restaurant atop the Venetian Gothic building, home to the Chicago Athletic Association hotel, is another. Here, you can dine on Island Creek oysters and Thai green curry prawns, and enjoy killer views of Millennium Park, Anish Kapoor’s “The Bean” and Lake Michigan, before schlepping down to hotel bedrooms that play with the sporting history of the historic property – pommel horses sit at the bottom of beds and, in lieu of fluffy white cloaks, boxing-inspired flannel robes are provided for post-shower warmth.
And in Wicker Park, a low-key neighbourhood on the city’s western flank that’s home to vintage shops and hipsters, spots like Ina Mae Tavern are turning heads: the funky Southern restaurant serves bourbon-spiked cocktails and Nola po boys (traditional Louisianan meat sandwiches).
Ditto in Logan Square, a district on Chicago’s North Side, where we jump off Zino’s bus outside Pizza Lobo, the neighbourhood tavern and slice shop that has become Bear-famous for its back alley. Here, amid the trash cans, the Blue Line metro rattling above, is where sous chef Sydney tries to poach a few kitchen workers catching a break, after devouring a quarter slice of pepperoni pizza from the takeaway hatch – a symbolic piece of TV in a city wedded to deep-dish.
Pizza Lobo’s Logan Square patio space | Credit: Garrett Sweet
Once we head through the gate, into the wild west-inflected patio space off a dining room dominated by a vast, retro bar and a shaggy-looking stuffed wolf, I realise I wouldn’t have visited Pizza Lobo if I wasn’t on this food tour, and if I hadn’t watched The Bear. It’s one of those neighbourhood joints you might accidentally stumble across if you were staying nearby, or thanks to a recommendation from a city-based friend, but it’s unlikely to make a “best restaurants" list.
It’s good, it’s fun, it's relaxed, it’s understated. It’s food you’d eat if you lived in Chicago, and maybe that’s what The Bear has really done for the city: it’s remembered the old-school spots who’ve always done it well and put eyes on the local joints that are doing it well today. Sitting in the sunshine, a beer in one hand, a generous slice of pepperoni pizza in the other, I think, “Pizza Lobo has it”. I don’t know what “it” is, exactly – “authentic” would have The Bear’s Cicero shouting in my face – but it’s there, and it’s tangible. To paraphrase a quote from the series, and redirect it to the city's restaurant scene: the more you learn, the less you understand. And that’s no bad thing.
Once we head through the gate, into the wild west-inflected patio space off a dining room dominated by a vast, retro bar and a shaggy-looking stuffed wolf, I realise I wouldn’t have visited Pizza Lobo if I wasn’t on this food tour, and if I hadn’t watched The Bear. It’s one of those neighbourhood joints you might accidentally stumble across if you were staying nearby, or thanks to a recommendation from a city-based friend, but it’s unlikely to make a “best restaurants" list.
It’s good, it’s fun, it's relaxed, it’s understated. It’s food you’d eat if you lived in Chicago, and maybe that’s what The Bear has really done for the city: it’s remembered the old-school spots who’ve always done it well and put eyes on the local joints that are doing it well today. Sitting in the sunshine, a beer in one hand, a generous slice of pepperoni pizza in the other, I think, “Pizza Lobo has it”. I don’t know what “it” is, exactly – “authentic” would have The Bear’s Cicero shouting in my face – but it’s there, and it’s tangible. To paraphrase a quote from the series, and redirect it to the city's restaurant scene: the more you learn, the less you understand. And that’s no bad thing.
The Lowdown
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