Real chefs weigh in on what 'The Bear' gets right and wrong

New York Post

4 hours ago

Yes, chef!
Emmy-winning hit 'The Bear' returned for Season 4 on June 25 at 8 p.m. — and it puts chefs back in the spotlight.
The awards darling Hulu drama follows Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) as he takes over his late brother's (Jon Bernthal) Chicago restaurant and wrangles his kitchen staff, including Syd (Ayo Edebiri), his volatile cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), line cook Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce), and handyman Neil Fak (Matty Matheson).
Now, several real chefs are weighing in, telling The Post what the hit show gets right — and wrong — about their profession.
17 Jeremy Allen White in 'The Bear.'
HULU
Emily Brubaker, 44, the Resort Executive Chef at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, CA, shared that when she used to work in a 3-star Michelin restaurant, she saw her own experience in 'The Bear's' flashback scenes with Carmy and his cruel old boss (played by Joel McHale).
'When Joel McHale is leaning over [Carmy], and people [in the kitchen] are saying times, like, '24, 13,' and he leans in and says like, 'you're trash, and you're never gonna be any better than this' and things like that – my husband and I actually stopped watching ['The Bear'] for a little while, because it was like PTSD,' she recalled.
She added that the show's flashback to Carmy's fine dining work experience was 'crazy because it's just so realistic.'
17 Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri in 'The Bear.'
FX Networks
17 Jeremy Allen White as Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto, Lionel Boyce as Marcus, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richard 'Richie' Jerimovich in 'The Bear.'
Brubaker, who is also a contestant on NBC's cooking competition series 'Yes, Chef!,' (which has its season finale Monday at 10 p.m.) added that in Season 3 of 'The Bear,' when characters such as Andrea Terry (Olivia Colman) appeared on the show, that also rang true.
'Last season with all of those amazing chefs popped in almost like mentorship…is a lot of what the industry is like,' she explained.
'You have these people you look up to who are like the unicorns of the business, and having them come in and give you advice or even critique what you're doing is all taken heart. But, it sometimes can be really hard to hear,' Brubaker added.
17 Emily Brubaker in a photo from her Instagram in April 2025.
chefbrubs/Instagram
17 Emily Brubaker in a photo from her Instagram in June of 2025.
chefbrubs/Instagram
Thomas Vignati, 29, a private chef based in New York City, told The Post that the practice of everyone on the show calling each other 'chef' is legit.
'I keep in contact with my old bosses, and I call them Chef – not even their names,' he said.
Before pivoting to private work, Vignati worked at restaurants, including Gramercy Tavern and Lilia.
17 Chef Thomas Vignati at the Union Square Farmers market on June 25, 2025.
Brian Zak/NY Post
17 Emily Brubaker on NBC's cooking competition series 'Yes, Chef!'
Pief Weyman/NBC
17 Chef Thomas Vignati at the Union Square Farmers market on June 25, 2025.
Brian Zak/NY Post
He added that he thinks the show focuses too much 'on the obsessive nature of working in a restaurant kitchen. They make a point to show that it's sometimes to the detriment of your personal life. I think that's accurate in the sense that it requires a lot of sacrifice.'
However, he believes 'The Bear' exaggerates it.
'There's the trope of the suffering artist that gets pulled in. People who work in restaurants are normal people who have lives and can find work/ life balance,' Vignati insisted, adding he feels 'The Bear' sometimes leans 'too heavily on the suffering artist trope.'
17 Ronny Miranda in a June 2024 Instagram photo.
ron_the_cook/Instagram
17 Chef Thomas Vignati at the Union Square Farmers market on June 25, 2025.
Brian Zak/NY Post
He said scenes in the show that have irked him are moments where 'they sprinkle things in to make them seem like an authority on kitchens.'
Vignati recalled a scene in the first season when Syd unnecessarily name-drops 'a cartouche,' saying it 'made me roll my eyes' since it didn't ring as realistic for what a chef would say and seemed to be there just 'to show that Sydney knows what she's talking about.'
But, he said, 'On the other hand, it's cool because it does give [regular people] a lexicon of food terms. For instance, Vignati recalled that even when he's working privately, he notices that some clients 'definitely watch the show.'
When one client was walking behind him in the kitchen, he shared that they called out 'behind,' which is 'a real thing that happens in [professional] kitchens.'
17 Ronny Miranda on the NBC competition series 'Yes, Chef!'
Pief Weyman/NBC
17 Ronny Miranda in a May 2025 Instagram photo.
ron_the_cook/Instagram
He noted that he finds it 'funny' that people add that language to their home kitchens after watching 'The Bear,' but said, 'That's an interesting dynamic' and noted that the show 'is fun to use as a tool to explain what life is like.'
Ronny Miranda, 42, who is the Conference Lead Chef at the Culinary Institute of America's Napa campus, told The Post that he enjoys 'The Bear' but also thinks that it 'glorifies' the 'toxic chef' stereotype.
'It fixates too much on the harsh realities of our industry – like Carmy perpetually dangling on the edge of sanity.'
17 Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White in 'The Bear.'
FX Networks
17 Ronny Miranda on 'Yes, Chef!'
Brendan Meadows/NBC
17 Chef Thomas Vignati at the Union Square Farmers market on June 25, 2025.
Brian Zak/NY Post
He explained, 'And that's tragically true and accurate for a lot of chefs in the industry. But they're not showing the passion that he has. When they do show passion, it comes out in these weird, angry ways instead of showing the joy of cooking.'
Miranda, who was also on the NBC competition series 'Yes Chef!,' revealed that the show 'gets a lot of stuff right: it's hard to be a chef. A lot of times, it's a lonely task.'
17 Emily Brubaker on 'Yes, Chef!'
Pief Weyman/NBC
17 Chef Thomas Vignati at the Union Square Farmers market on June 25, 2025.
Brian Zak/NY Post
He noted that most restaurant kitchens are 'absolutely more supportive than it shows on 'The Bear.' They're showing the harshness of the industry and the negative aspects of being a chef when they could be showing Carmy growing.'
Brubaker explained that when she first told her parents she wanted to be a chef, they thought that was 'insane' because it meant that she would have to work holidays and 'the craziest hours.'
'The Bear' and other chef-related movies and TV shows 'have really shown that we do it because we love it. It's because we're artists,' she explained. 'You're never going to tell a painter that they paint too much or that they disappear from the world because they're working on a project.'
Brubaker said that she thinks 'The Bear' has opened people's eyes 'to how dedicated we are to our craft, and the passion and the talent that goes with it.'