15 Meals From "The Bear" Season 1, Ranked
The first season of "The Bear" had TV critics and chefs alike singing the praises of the FX comedy-drama series. Set in the fictitious Chicago kitchen of The Original Beef of Chicagoland, the first eight episodes show fans a number of dishes from hometown sandwiches to elevated desserts.
"The Bear" starts when Carmy Berzatto returns from the world of NYC fine dining to run his brother's Chicago sandwich shop, after he gets the news his brother committed suicide. Carmy works with a diverse crew of chefs, including the ambitious young Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and the dream-chasing pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce). Carmy's life in "The Bear" is a balancing act of managing these personalities, running a restaurant, and dealing with his own mental health struggles. By the end of the first season, though, there is hope for the future. Oh, and lots of good food that has been shown in only eight short episodes. In fact, we decided it was time to rank all 15 dishes on a scale from the least appetizing to the most drool-inducing.
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
15. Carmy's Plum Dessert
In Season 1, Episode 3 of "The Bear," Carmy recollects his trying days in the world of fine dining in shocking detail when he goes into the process of making a plum dish. This fruit dessert is the epitome of the overcomplicated and ridiculously demanding nature of working in fine dining. It represents everything the character is running from and as such doesn't sound very good.
As Carmy describes it, this dessert includes plums in four different ways: plum syrup, consommé, compressed fresh plums, and a plum geleé. The last part is the most complicated. As Carmy puts it, "The chef wanted the gelée to be like the consistency of Haribo Gummi Bears, which we could never do. Thick but also squishy. But, not too squishy. No one could do it. It was always too soft, or it was too hard, or it would melt too quickly, or it was too gummy."
On the whole, this dish doesn't actually sound very delicious to eat, for as impressive as it looks. Even fans on Reddit agree that this dessert "probably doesn't taste that much better than a good plum."
14. Chicken and Peppers
In the second episode of "The Bear" we get our first look at what The Beef sells, aside from just ... the beef. From the sound of it, the sandwich shop's two other most popular dishes are "sausage pepper" and "chicken pepper." If you are from Chicago, you probably recognize these as classic sandwiches that you can find around the Windy City. The deliciously simple Sausage and Peppers has a less popular cousin (just like Carmy!) in the form of Chicken and Peppers.
Chicken Pepper, in "Bear" speak, likely refers to a simple dish of roasted chicken and peppers. Preparation-wise, this doesn't necessarily mean it has to be on a bread, but knowing what we know about the rest of the menu that's highly likely. Despite the number of orders coming in during the dinner rush, this dish isn't nearly as popular as other Chicago staples in the same ballpark. Sorry chicken, you just can't compete with what's to come.
13. Tina's Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) represents the type of person that is the backbone of the service industry: The veteran line cook who keeps the whole operation glued together, despite her title and wage. Even Tina is allowed to shine in "The Bear," and that's not just thanks to Colón-Zayas' electric performance.
Displeased with the potatoes they've been serving up at The Beef in Season 1, Episode 4, "Dogs," a fed-up Tina goes back to her OG recipe with some mind-blowing rosemary mashed potatoes. Now, we can't deny that it sounds like an excellent side dish, but it doesn't quite rank among the best meals in "The Bear" — you have likely had good mashed potatoes before. However, if you felt inspired by this lovingly rendered recipe from "Dogs," you can track down plenty of copycats trying to recreate it online.
12. Carmy's Chicken Piccata
The staff of The Beef isn't impressed when Carmy goes pro chef mode and whips up a restaurant-quality Chicken Piccata as a demo. We can't say that we are either, at least not in comparison to all the other amazing food that shows up on "The Bear." What we will say is that if we had a chance to try Carmy's chicken piccata we're sure it would be delicious.
For this dish, we don't just get to twiddle our thumbs and wonder what it would taste like if we had the recipe. This is one of a handful of "Bear" favorites that chefs Matty Matheson and Courtney Storer recreated in their YouTube series.
If those names sound familiar it's because they probably are. Not only is Matheson a pretty big food YouTuber (with over 1 million followers), he is a producer and consultant on the FX show appearing in a supporting role as The Beef's handyman Neil.
Storer is a Chicago chef and the show's culinary producer. She is also the sister of showrunner Christopher Storer. It's easy to start making parallels to the show's own brother-sister dynamic, with one of them knee-deep in the food world and the other supporting them. Talking to People, Courtney Storer said "There's a lot of our story in The Bear."
11. Ebrahim's Chicken Suqaar
No matter how far they are from the head chef position, one thing that makes the whole found family thing work is how each member loves to cook. Take Ebrahim (Edwin Lee Gibson), another one of The Beef's line cooks, who whips up a delicious and authentic dish that truly helps shape his character.
In episode 3, "Brigade," Ebrahim makes Chicken Suqaar. This is a traditional Somali dish made with beef, but Ebrahim's use of chicken gives it a special flavor that might inspire some to try this variation at home.
It makes perfect sense why this would be the dish Ebrahim throws together given what he has access to in The Beef's kitchen. A Suqaar is a very vegetable and aromatic-forward dish that basically requires chopping everything into small pieces and cooking it together. This dish is considered to be similar to a Somali stir-fry.
10. Mikey's Family Spaghetti
For the entire first season of "The Bear" a big deal is made about the cans of tomatoes that are burning a hole in Carmy's walk-in. In the season finale, we learn that there is something worth much more than tomatoes there. Simultaneously, Mikey (Jon Bernthal) finally gets to make his classic family recipe spaghetti for family meal.
The description of the dish is remarkably simple, "10 garlic cloves, basil steeped in olive oil, and two 28-ounce cans of San Marzano tomatoes." But to upgrade this beyond the basic tomato sauce, the secret ingredient here is heart. Carmy also adds in a couple of tablespoons of butter and an onion, which certainly helps the flavor, but at the end of the day, this is just a regular helping of spaghetti.
If you don't already have a family recipe that you swear by, you can try your best to recreate the sauce from "The Bear." The most authentic way of doing so isn't just by following the ingredient list, but by watching the show's culinary producers cook it themselves on YouTube.
9. Marcus' Perfect Donut
Marcus (Lionel Boyce) is the ambitious young pastry chef that supplies The Beef with his excellent chocolate cake (another Chicago staple), but before we get to that we must talk about Marcus' perfect donut. Sure, he spent a chaotic shift working on his donuts instead of doing his job, but we have to admit that we want to taste the end result of that level of commitment.
There is a gulf of difference between an average donut and a "perfect" donut, though. The glazed donut that Marcus whipped up in Season 1, Episode 7 of "The Bear" looks mighty fine. Like much of the food featured in "The Bear" this was a real recipe created by Matty Matheson, chef consultant Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader, and culinary producer Courtney Storer. Talking to Vulture, Boyce said that they would bake and prep the food up to a point, but that he would end up actually frosting the donuts for the shot.
"It's just me doing the final steps, because baking takes forever," Boyce said, "We don't have eight hours to film them from start to finish. It's just TV magic."
8. Sausage and Peppers
Anywhere you go in the Chicago area that serves up Italian Beef or Chicago Hot Dogs is almost guaranteed to also have this staple on the menu: The Sausage and Peppers hoagie. This sandwich is simplicity on a bun, and it's basically just what it sounds like — with a few extra ingredients thrown in for good measure. However, it doesn't take much to make your own quality recipe for a fresh sausage and pepper hero at home.
There is nothing fancy about sausage, peppers, and onions on a hoagie roll or hot dog bun. No, the secret here is all about preparation. If the ingredients are coming straight from a grill, odds are the sandwich you are getting will be bang on.
Sausage and Peppers aren't the most exciting dishes we see on "The Bear." But given how many orders for these come in during the show's first season, we can't deny that it's certainly one of the most popular for The Beef.
7. Chicago Hot Dog
A true Chicagoan will tell you to go all the way with your hot dog or not at all. A Chicago hot dog means business and is typically an all-beef frankfurter on a steamed poppy seed bun. The toppings are as follows: yellow mustard, bright green pickle relish, fresh chopped white onions, tomato wedges, a kosher-style pickle spear, sport peppers, and, crucially, a dash of celery salt.
These staples of Chicago quick-service food make their appearance for the first time in episode three of "The Bear." Of course, Italian Beef and Chicago hot dogs go together like peanut butter and jelly, although maybe not all in the same bite. That's just to say that major Chicago joints like Portillos and Wolfy's sell Italian Beef right alongside dogs — and often they are just as good, if not better.
One thing is certain, "The Beef" isn't known for its hot dogs. Still, even a half-decent authentic Chicago hot dog is better than what you can get in most cities. If you don't jive with all the toppings, we understand, but the true Chicago hot dog experience is irreplaceable.
6. Beef Braciole
The season finale of "The Bear" Season 1 is called "Braciole" in reference to this beefy dish. Beef Braciole is an Italian-American favorite that boils down to beef that is pounded out, rolled, and stuffed with herbs, cheese, and prosciutto. Often, it is doused in a traditional red sauce to make it all go down nice and easy. And of course, "The Bear" brought up the debate of whether or not a braciole should include raisins, something we will admit we hadn't heard of before the show. With or without raisins, though, we are dying to get our hands on this recipe. And thankfully, we can.
The significance of the braciole was another thing Courtney Storer brought to "The Bear." In a Wall Street Journal interview, Storer remarked that braciole was the perfect representation of the show in food form. "It was an interesting takeaway because so much of the show is about pain and love and passion," she said. "And braciole represents this thing that's so red and vibrant and alive."
5. Sydney's Family Stew with Rice and Plantains
It's hard not to be impressed by everything Ayo Edebiri's Sydney cooks in "The Bear." The aspiring young chef is bringing a whole new perspective to a kitchen run by Gen-X dudes. This isn't just communicated in the way Sydney is treated by the show and its characters, but in the food that she brings to the table. The first great example is in the very first episode of "The Bear" when she makes a stew with rice and plantains for family meal.
Sydney's first big test in the kitchen is making a meal for the staff of The Beef, and she refuses to decide between delicious and impressive. Instead, she does both with a beef stew served over rice and plantains. She also serves a fennel salad on the side for some freshness.
Perfectly-cooked plantains are one of the keys to winning someone over with a meal and it seems like Sydney delivered just that with her first big team meal. Still, getting to watch her grow and cook even more impressive meals is one of the great joys of "The Bear."
4. Marcus' Chocolate Cake
"The Bear" made a pretty big deal out of Marcus' astonishingly good chocolate layer cake. His passion for cakes ultimately gets in the way of the team's goals, but he and Carmy work it out. When everyone at "The Beef" finally gets to try the cake, it is phenomenal. As it turns out there is a reason for this and it's based in reality. That's right, this is a recipe that exists in real life.
Marcus' chocolate layer cake was created by a working pastry chef who served as the show's real-life pastry consultant. After years of working in the industry, Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader developed a recipe for a chocolate layer cake that you see in "The Bear." In an interview with Food & Wine, she said that for episode 7, she made 12 entire chocolate cakes for the shoot, "because they weren't sure how many times we were going to have to shoot it."
This means that what you see in "The Bear" doesn't just look delicious, it is made by an expert pastry chef who knows what she is doing. We know you chocolate lovers out there are dying for a slice.
3. Chilean Sea Bass with Tomato Confit
We were just singing the praises of Sydney's first meal of the season and now we are already at her last. This dish is meant to display the character's growth not just as a chef, but as a person. At this moment, we are supposed to see a softer and more personal side of Sydney. The only way to do so is to show us something delicious and different from what Carmy normally lets her cook. In that regard, this sea bass dish from Season 1, Episode 8 did not disappoint
Sydney presents this home-cooked dish to Marcus at her apartment while the two figure out how to navigate life after The Beef. Maybe it's the setting, but it reads as her most personal dish on the show. This entree is described as a Chilean Sea Bass with Tomato Confit. What we see is a mighty fine piece of fish atop a vibrant base of tomatoes in oil. It's a home cooked meal up to fine dining standards. What could be better?
2. Italian Beef
The Italian beef sandwich is what the whole show is about. At least that's what it wants you to think until the very end of Season 1. Using the cash found in the tomato cans, Carmy is now opening The Bear. There is no guarantee the restaurant of this chef's dreams will serve Italian beef hoagies. Maybe Carmy will find a way to sneak this extremely symbolic dish into his next menu in Season 2.
The sandwich is simple. Start with roasted, thinly-sliced sirloin cooked in beefy au jus aka "gravy" and pile it high on a large French roll before topping it off with sweet peppers or hot Giardiniera (a regional pickled veg favorite). Most Italian beef joints let you choose your level of wetness, meaning the amount of gravy you want your hoagie dunked in. Locals are partial to wet or even dipped (read: dunked) Beefs, but dry is an option for a reason.
If for some reason you want to make your own Italian Beef sandwiches — or just don't have a good, local place to pick one up — Matty and Courtney have once again got you covered on YouTube with a recipe as close to the one on "The Bear" as you'll ever see.
1. Cola-Braised Short Ribs and Risotto
"The Bear" focuses on beef, so it only makes sense that the meal that tops this list is the most decadent and tempting beef dish featured on the show. The fact that we can almost see Sydney's notes for this dish she makes in Season 1, Episode 6 "Ceres" makes it feel just within our grasp. But the honest truth is that these Cola-Braised Short Ribs served atop a bed of risotto sound like heaven on a plate.
If you want to put on your chef hat and apron and give this recipe a shot, you can try to decipher Sydney's writing, but you may come up short on a risotto recipe. Carmy gives Sydney notes on this dish in the first season's finale, so there is a chance we will see an even more elevated version of it appear in Season 2 of "The Bear."