I thought it was worth watching. Great cast. Reminded me a bit of Pig in the way it mixed some very realistic depictions of a restaurant kitchen with ridiculously preposterous nonsense about the restaurant industry in general (see the last link below for some examples). Though nothing quite as preposterous as an underground after-hours fight club for chefs.
The sets quite closely copy this place:
I binged it one night waiting for mother wolf reservations to go live. I enjoyed it
Substack link
A lot of the restaurant takes just get worse from here imo
My favorite gaffe was Sydney suggesting that they increase dinner revenues by serving RISOTTO!
i was explaining to a friend that exact thing
Julia Moskin didnât notice any off notes except the crazy mashed potatoes technique.
Found the pilot script on this site I like. Itâs an actual script (not a transcript) but NOT the shooting script and it doesnât have a date or draft number.
I havenât compared the script side by side with the produced pilot but itâs significantly different than the actual pilot including:
Some character changes (eg, I think Tina is Tito in the script)
Pretty significant dialog changes- some may have ended up on the editing room floor but other parts seem rewritten
Thereâs a scene in the script not in the pilot that seems like it was repurposed for a different episode. It tickled me that they capitalized âDELIâ in the script- generally speaking thatâs a signal to props to make sure itâs included and apparently that was critical enough to them to include in completely different episode. As someone that spent even a little time in a restaurant I did like that and other details they specifically wanted included:
There are a lot more changes both small (eg, minor plot points) and large (eg, seemingly important character beats) and some other interesting tidbits. Itâs not at all uncommon for even a polished pilot script to have these differences and makes for a fun read.
It reminds me of old Justified scripts (also an FX show) where even shooting scripts could be significantly different than what appeared on screen. Given the blocking, chaotic dialog, etc. I wonder if they take a similar approach to how Justified could deviate from the script based on how the writers, actors and director feel at any given moment. Very difficult to achieve if so.
Just in case you didnât already know, the culinary producer on The Bear is Courney Storer. Sister to The Bear creator, Christopher Storer. Youâve probably also eaten her food since she was the CDC at Jon & Vinnyâs for a very long time. Having worked in the same circles, sheâs super kind and hard working to a fault.
Biggest gaffe I noticed was when they received an onslaught of online orders, the tickets would not be printed on a thermal printer. Kitchen chits are always printed on an impact printer so you can have duplicates and they are not ruined by heat. Ask any line cook and the sound they hear in the their nightmares is the high-pitched screech of those printers. I wonder if there was a discussion on what type of printer and perhaps the standard would be too distracting.
Also, why not risotto?
Rice is cheap and stock is made from scraps. Doesnât need nearly as much attention as most people think. Pick-up doesnât take too much time as long as itâs kept warm.
Edit: I got it wrong here. Most restaurants donât keep it warm. Itâs spread on a sheetpan to cool then portioned and kept in a lowboy. I was thinking of a Venetian restaurant I had seen years ago that kept a big pot of fish stock on the their stove for their risotto. This edit came after Robertâs post in response.
I still think risotto is an economical choice considering the cost of ingredients.
Shortcut-compromised restaurant ârisotto,â sure, but that doesnât fit the fine-dining ambition of the character, or the criticâs rave.
I ended up watching the whole playlist with Courtney Storer and Matty Matheson on his channel. Not sure I learned much culinarily but it was entertaining. Mathesonâs normally such an agent of chaos I canât even finish his videos but Storer just pulled it back from the brink for me.
Toast uses thermal printers
Definitely a possibility!
Not a serious gaffe then.
The cost is labor. Making real risotto takes a lot of attention. To do it right in a restaurant you need a dedicated risotto station, which is very rare in the US.
You can use shortcuts such as parboiling the rice, but the quality goes down and youâre not likely to wow a critic whoâs had the real thing.
I agree with you. Lots of labor.
But, I would say that applies to a lot of dishes. âDoing it rightâ will always take a ton of labor and doubly so for most dishes that utilize less expensive ingredients since they tend to take extra time to get the most potential.
I canât think of another dish that needs that much attention for that long a time. You need to stir regularly and add simmering broth in small amounts every few minutes.
People say polenta needs constant stirring, but thatâs just folklore.
I want to watch it 
6/22
Hot take alert, but have been underwhelmed by the 2nd season. Loved the 1st season, but four episodes in, there hasnât been much going on, mainly character investigations that feel schmaltzy and thin. Not a lot of drama or stakes.
Curious if others are connecting with it. Know this season has gotten mucho critical acclaim.
I liked it. As.with the first season I found it weird that they put so much effort into getting some details right and then had others that were preposterous.
Most of what Iâve read says itâs good but gets REALLY good with episode 6. Weâve finished episode 5.
