Cousin! Season 3 of FX's "The Bear" is finally here. With fans of the series eager to 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 , 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. Chris Zucchero's involvement with The Bear Not only was "The Bear" based on Mr.
Beef, but pa.
