How to Eat Your Way Through Chicago Like The Bear Crew
On a Saturday morning in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighbourhood, the line outside Michelin-starred Filipino fine-diner and bakery Kasama is about 100 deep.
People have always queued for Genie Kwon’s pastries (her truffle croissant alone deserves UNESCO status) but when Kasama starred in a memorable scene in season two of The Bear – featuring Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) eating more food than would seem possible – things went crazy. Kwon and her chef and co-owner husband, Tim Flores, both consulted on the show and are quick to spot a Bear fan. “We know when customers have watched because they make Sydney’s exact order: the longaniza breakfast sandwich, the mushroom adobo, the mango tart and a matcha latte,” says Kwon. Just like Sydney, they inevitably order a hash brown on the side and insert it into the sandwich themselves.
Big, brash and hard-edged with a heart of gold, Chicago has always been a food town, in no small part thanks to centuries of immigration. If you want great Italian, Mexican, Polish, Chinese, Indian or even Texas-style barbecue (try Green Street Smoked Meats in West Loop, it’s all here. The Bear has done such a good job of highlighting the city’s best bits that you could do far worse than following in its footsteps.
When I take the L train out to Mr. Beef (666 N Orleans Street), the Italian sandwich shop that inspired the show’s The Original Beef of Chicagoland restaurant, staffer Micky G is wearing his baseball cap backwards and policing orders. “You gotta choose – hot or sweet?” he says in a thick Italian-American accent. For the record, ask for your beef sandwich with added Italian sausage and make it hot, meaning it’s garnished with giardiniera, a spicy Italian relish that locals put on everything. The only thing more Chicagoan is a Chicago dog, which you can buy almost anywhere and comes with fresh tomato, a pickle spear and celery salt. Ketchup? Under no circumstances.
Later, I stop by elegant Fulton Market fine-diner Ever. We take a peek into the kitchen of sister bar, After, where co-owner Michael Muser points out the back-of-house bench where pastry impresario Luca (Will Poulter) assembled some of his more ambitious creations in season two. At Avec in West Loop, I eat the famous taleggio and truffle focaccia at a timber table that looks a lot like the one Sydney sits at with owner Donnie Madia. One piece of advice he might have given her would be, “Get a TV show set in your town”, such is The Bear’s outsized impact on Chicago’s food scene. “We were so happy to be involved,” says Flores. “It’s been really great for our city.”
