What Restaurant Is The Bear Actually Based On?

This article may contain spoilers for FX's "The Bear" Season 3.

Cousin! Season 3 of FX's "The Bear" is finally here. With fans of the series eager to watch chef Carmy and the crew's fine-dining efforts unfold at The Bear, many wonder whether the hectic Chicago eatery they anxiously (and lovingly) watch on television is based on a real restaurant. The series excels at its depiction of the back-of-house experience. Its apt portrayal of the trials and tribulations of the TV restaurant The Beef in Season 1 is loosely based on Chicago's very real Italian sandwich joint Mr. Beef.

However, the inspiration wasn't random. Christopher Storer, creator of "The Bear," didn't just serendipitously walk by Mr. Beef and experience a lightbulb moment before setting off to write the script of the beloved show. Mr. Beef is owned by Chris Zucchero — Storer's lifelong friend.

In an interview with Variety, Zucchero says he and Storer have been friends since kindergarten. In an era long before social media kept everyone relentlessly connected, the only way to find Zucchero once he finished high school was at the sandwich shop. "I knew he [Storer] went to L.A. very early on after we graduated, but anytime he was in Chicago, he made sure to come to Mr. Beef and see me," Zucchero says. During one of those visits, Storer told Zucchero that he planned to write a show about Mr. Beef. The sandwich shop owner simply asked that Storer not glamorize the back-of-house experience with faux Hollywood pizzazz. Safe to say Storer kept that promise.

Not only was "The Bear" based on Mr. Beef, but parts of the series pilot were also filmed there. That first episode sees Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), who trained at Michelin-starred establishments, struggle to adapt to the challenges of running a small, financially unstable sandwich shop — a genesis that sets the tone for the entire series. Not too surprisingly, shop owner Chris Zucchero was cast as an extra in the pilot.

In true Carmy fashion, Zucchero told Variety last year he hadn't watched a single episode of "The Bear." His disinterest isn't because he doesn't want to support his longtime friend, he said, but because he's too zeroed in on managing the restaurant that inspired the series. "The only thing I've ever known in my life is that restaurant," Zucchero said.

Mr. Beef is located at 666 N. Orleans St. in Chicago's River North neighborhood. Like Carmy's restaurant in Season 1, the digs at Mr. Beef are no-frills, which leaves more space for the food to shine. It serves Italian beef sandwiches, Italian sausage sandwiches, turkey subs, Italian subs, and Chicago-style hot dogs along with fries and cheese fries. It also sells beef and sausage by the pound. But that limited menu doesn't stop it from receiving gleaming Yelp reviews. "Truly a transformative experience. I loved everything about my trip to Mr. Beef," one diner writes. Next time you're exploring the best restaurants in Chicago, give Mr. Beef a try.