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Time Magazine
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Jamie Lee Curtis on Her Big Moment in 'The Bear' Season 4
Jamie Lee Curtis manifested her role on The Bear. She remembers watching the show's first episode—specifically a scene between Carmen 'Carmy' and Natalie, when the chef doesn't have enough money for his restaurant's food supply, so his sister brings him his jacket to sell. Before she leaves, she asks him a question. 'Have you called mom?' He hasn't. 'You should,' she tells him. At that moment, sitting at home inside what she calls her 'witness protection cabin,' Curtis began envisioning what their mother might be like. 'Oh, I think I'm going to be her,' she thought. It didn't take long. In 'Fishes,' the sixth episode of the second season, she debuted as Donna Berzatto, embodying Carmy and Natalie's mother whose alcoholism and mania has turned her home—and large family gatherings—into a mental trauma zone. Though very different from her character, Curtis could relate to Donna's substance abuse issues and mothering challenges, and leaned into her most toxic traits. By the end of the electric and overwhelming episode, for which Curtis won an Emmy, Donna has drunkenly left the Christmas dinner table and crashed a car into her house, effectively fracturing her relationship with her son. But in Season 4, Donna gets a chance to make amends. About five years after the disastrous holiday, she spends the majority of the ninth episode, 'Tonnato,' sharing her regrets with Carmy inside her home. While looking at old family photos together, Donna admits she's been sober a year and then reads an apology letter, acknowledging the pain she's caused and explaining the reasons for her poor choices. Carmy eventually reciprocates, sharing his guilt for leaving the family and expressing his love for her. It's a powerful, emotional exchange that crystallizes the season's redemptive, healing themes. Then, as an act of reconciliation, Carmy prepares for his mother a chicken dinner that he learned to make while training as a chef at The French Laundry. Here, Curtis unpacks that emotionally charged sequence as she talks about the experience of playing Donna, and how her own life informed parts of the character. I'll be honest, I get anxiety every time your character appears on the show—and I think it's mostly because we've only really seen you through Carmy's perspective. What was genius from the beginning was you don't meet Donna for 16 episodes. The anxiety is built up through hearing about her from other people and the amount of anxiety Carmen carries. She's designed to create instability. What I found beautiful is that in episode 10 of Season 2, when they're opening the restaurant and Donna's out front chain smoking—I said to [creator Chris Storer], 'I think [Donna] is sober four months. She has enough self knowledge now to know that she has an effect on people, particularly when she's drinking. And so the pacing in front of the restaurant is the 'Do I? Don't I?' push and pull of addiction, which, when you're newly sober, you're very fragile. You show up in a couple episodes this season, specifically for Episode 9's conversation with Carmen. How does it feel for you to parachute in and out of Donna's headspace every year? We shot Season 3 and 4 simultaneously. So the truth is, I did the scene with Sugar in the hospital, which was an entire episode. And two days later, I did my part at the wedding. And then the next day, my scene with Jeremy at the house. So it was a lot of Donna, which was not dissimilar to the Christmas episode where I came in for like a three-day bombardment and then was gone. I've been an actress since I was 19. I've done a lot of different work. Some of it good, some of it great, some of it awful—much of it awful. Everybody works differently. I also didn't know how Chris worked before we met on the Christmas episode. Our entire relationship was a text relationship where he said, 'So excited you're coming!' And I said, 'How do you want her hair to look?' And he sent me a picture of Monica Vitti. And then I said, 'What about her nails?' And he sent me a picture of the desperate housewives of New York and that was the entirety of the background that I got from him before I walked in the kitchen the day we shot 'Fishes.' I got a sense that he understood that I was going to show up fully-loaded ready to shoot. That gave me a lot of confidence and a lot of freedom because I knew, having seen the level of intensity, what the show was like. What was your initial impression when you read this scene between Donna and Carmy, and how did you want to approach it? People forget that she hasn't seen Carmen since Christmas five years earlier. It's not like there's a chyron that's under the screen that reminds the audience at the wedding. And obviously she has seen the rest of the family. She attended the birth of her granddaughter. She goes to family birthdays. She sees Lee. She sees Jimmy. So there's an indication that she is a part of this interesting melting pot family, but she hasn't seen Carmen. So that moment when she sees him at the wedding—and the way all his friends come around him and are like, 'Hey, they need you in the kitchen right now.' Donna knows what's going on. She's very smart so she understands that this is a big moment for both of them. And then she has that lovely scene with Sydney and then she gets the f-ck out, because she understands. In recovery, there's a phrase, 'We suit up and show up.' So Donna is suiting up and showing up. And of course who does she run into? Michelle. And Michelle says, 'Are you good?' And we all know that question is Donna's fire starter. Right. That is the fire starter, one of those clicking flame things that we all have in our houses to light matches. It's that click. And her response, which is, 'I'm good.' And then get the f-ck out. I'm not going to play Michelle. I'm going to go. And so we've teed it up beautifully. Yep. I'm sober. I've been sober a long time. I talk to a lot of sober people. Part of being sober is acknowledging the past. There is a process within being a sober alcoholic or sober drug addict that in order to move freely into the future, you have to acknowledge the past. I don't think Donna wanted to acknowledge it with him for a long time. I think she's been working on that for the better part of a year. She's had that little piece of paper in her desk drawer, and when he comes over, I think the intention was to see him and keep it light and polite—another phrase we use in recovery. And I think that was her plan until she started going through the pictures and saw Mikey. Yeah, I wondering if you wrote that letter yourself. It was from the script, but of course I did! Was that a cathartic experience—thinking about what that symbolizes generally for a mother to a son, but then also specifically for Donna to Carmy? Very much cathartic. We both knew what we're doing. The script is beautiful. I learned that having a kid who you don't know how to help is one of the most powerless experiences as a parent. I personally have a child with special needs. I have a child who has a learning difference. And the powerlessness you feel when you can't actually help them—you can find people who can help them, but you can't. So the part of that scene that gets me every time is when she talks about Mike. Because clearly Mike had that problem since he was a little boy. And being a parent and not being able to help your kid and not knowing what to do to help them—and finding that alcohol just made it all more palatable and easy—to play a woman who has struggled with that, and then to have the beautiful writing that articulates that exact powerlessness and turmoil, and resulting shame and self-hatred, and then the addiction on top of it—I just thought it was a beautifully constructed. The line that hits me the hardest throughout your interplay is when you tell Carmy, 'I don't know you, and you don't know me, and I did that.' Was there a line or a moment in this conversation that impacted you the most? Oh yeah—what I just said about Mike. I did that as a statement of fact. I have to live with that. She also says it to Sugar in the hospital when Sugar says, 'You scared me and I don't want my baby to feel scared.' I said, 'I scared you?' Hearing that you have that effect on a human being's life is powerful. And so I can totally accept that we're operating as strangers in this family. That is when she really is showing the pain and suffering of her own childhood, her marriage, her being a mother to three. That is when Carmen really softens and says, 'I'm sorry, I wasn't there for you.' What does Leonard Cohen say? "There has to be cracks because that's where the light comes in." That's the moment when you understand that Carmen is now understanding the multitude of Donna and what she has struggled with. What was it like working with Jeremy that day? I feel very motherly toward all three of these kids. I've stayed a little in contact with them in the most cursory way. I'm not pretending we're buddies, but I also reach out occasionally. So he and I have that. Again, not with any supposition that it's more than it is. He's just a beautiful performer. We use the term scene partner a lot in actor talk, but he's a scene partner. We don't rehearse it. We don't talk about it. We stay away from each other until it begins, and then it begins. And he has beautiful eyes, and they are expressive and soulful and sorrowful and very alive at times and very emotional at times. And I think you see all of that in this whole season, but in that scene in particular. And then the coup de grace, which is him cooking for her. I really love that he goes back to his time at French Laundry where he learned to make roast chicken. Do you feel like a meal is one of the kindest gifts you can give somebody? For sure. I'm not a foodie. I was raised by a very skinny woman. Food was not a friend in a generation of women in her industry who starved themselves under the tutelage of the studio system. My mother was incredibly beautiful and she held it all the way through her life. While many of her other friends succumbed to middle age, she starved it away. So I was raised around cereal and a grilled cheese sandwich, which would be like gold for me. But apparently I make really good penne with butter, garlic salt and a little parmesan cheese and my elder daughter, Annie, was talking with her friends about memories in their high school years of having me make that penne. Hearing that that is a memory for my daughter is something comforting. I'm kind of embarrassed by it because it's not a French Laundry chicken. And yet the act of making it and the act of receiving it as something special is very moving to me. Of course Carmy is going to truss and baste and bake and broil a beautiful chicken for his mother. It's a wordless moment and, needless to say, very moving. It's very clear that there's a path forward through that act that is him basically saying, 'I'm sorry that I didn't kind of meet you, that I stayed away from you and that I didn't face this.' It's pretty powerful to end a series on a full-circle moment. He also tells you not to wash chicken in the sink. Yeah, because, of course! What he's saying is that the salmonella goes all over the place. You think it's just going down the drain, but in fact, you're polluting your sink. This season felt very redemptive and healing in a lot of ways. What it was like to have a moment of reconciliation with Donna, as opposed to playing such a vicious antagonist? I'm the child of alcoholics. I'm a sober drug addict and alcoholic. I have lost so many friends to alcoholism and drug addiction. My baby brother died at 21 of an accidental heroin overdose. We're also living in a world that doesn't feel redemptive. When you talk about an antagonist, it feels like there are antagonists running the world right now. So from a spiritual place, if we're not healing, we're dying. And I didn't know if Donna was going to heal or get a chance to. I saw it in Season 3, but as I said to you, I already knew that Season 4 was coming. I don't know the origin stories necessarily, but if we're not healing, what are we doing? And so I'm beyond grateful that Chris gave everybody a moment of grace—every single person's story! The end of Season 3, Carmen says that in his vision for the restaurant, 'to make it good, you have to filter out the bad.' And I think this whole season was in line with that mission statement. It's just gorgeous work. The grace note at the end—you know those sandwich shops are going to be successful. We know what the numbers are going to be. They're going to blow the place up. But Carmen also knows he has to step away from this and let these people do it. And the fact that that's the gift that he's giving everybody, and that he'll now go figure out who Carmen is. And he'll be able to do it with a mother in his life now. Yeah, and Donna is sober now. Can Donna stay sober? I hope so. I've stayed sober. What was wack to me—the same day that this season of the show dropped, I woke up in the morning and a friend of mine in Los Angeles sent me a picture of a billboard on Sunset Boulevard. It's the Foundation for a Better Life, a program they run called 'Pass It On.' Inspirational people and ideas. And there's a billboard with my picture that says, 'My Bravest Thing? Getting Sober. Recovery. Pass it On.' And for Jamie and Donna, who had different stories but the same disease, to have that happen simultaneously was kind of another grace note. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity
CNN
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Is this the most political fashion item ever?
Overlooked, familiar, homely… These are the words traditionally associated with the apron, a detachable, workaday garment that has historically functioned 'almost like an invisibility cloak.' So said Carol Tulloch, a professor of dress, diaspora and transnationalism at Chelsea College of Arts, in a telephone interview with CNN. Just don't tell that to Jeremy Allen White's character Carmy Berzatto in hit TV drama 'The Bear' whose tightly-tied blue Bragard apron (a replica of those worn in chic Napa Valley eatery The French Laundry) only enhances his main character energy as the show's fourth season premieres this week. Tulloch, alongside fellow London-based academic Judith Clark, a professor of fashion and museology at London College of Fashion, have recently come together for a three-month-long residency at the Chelsea Space gallery to reflect upon the apron's cultural and social values — its design and use, as well as role regarding issues of race, class, and gender identity. It's timely as the apron is enjoying something of a renaissance in popular culture — featuring, for example, in recent collections from Hermès, The Row, Dior, Phoebe Philo and Ganni and on Kaia Gerber who wore a chic pinafore-style dress while out in New York in April — and it's ability to encompass unheard stories and experiences is starting to be critically appraised. 'They've been an unconscious part of many of our lives and childhoods,' said Tulloch. 'While they only really have one function — to protect clothes — they come in many forms.' When Tulloch started critically examining aprons, they proved to be a fascinating insight into people across all strata of society, she said. 'Those I wouldn't expect to have a close relationship with aprons — academics, for example — become quite pensive when they start thinking about them.' Tulloch recalled a small show from some years ago, called 'Pinnies from Heaven' at the Makers Guild museum in Wales, exhibiting works created by artists based on their recollections of the apron. One artist talked about how, for them, the apron absorbed the detritus of all the things that happened in the home, not just the mess from cooking or cleaning, but emotional fallout too. 'That really stuck with me,' Tulloch said. For Clark, the apron is 'talismanic.' Speaking to CNN via a phone call, she observed that the residency created an immediate sense of nostalgia for some people. 'Within two minutes of coming in, people recount something of their family history,' she said. Tulloch has also looked at aprons as a tool of protection and activism for women through the lens of African Jamaican market women called 'Higglers'. 'The Higgler is still very much a part of Jamaican identity,' says Tulloch. 'She was visually defined by the apron, whether tied around the waist or as a full bib. Likewise they were worn by women who were pineapple or banana pickers, or domestic workers.' Tulloch references contemporary South African artist Mary Sibande who explores the intersection of race, gender and labor in the country with her sculptural depictions of the apron-wearing 'Sophie,' the artist's self-proclaimed 'alter ego who plays out the fantasies of the maternal women in her family.' 'Sibande's great grandmother all the way up to her mother were all maids,' said Tulloch. 'The apron has served as a visual code in movies too: African American women were often defined as maids by the wearing of aprons in films and cartoons. Separately, the suffragettes reclaimed aprons, using pinafores emblazoned with slogans as activist tools, often when they had come out of prison for their campaigning work…' But aprons weren't always a sign of domesticity, servitude or homeliness, or of being working class. Nor were they always worn predominantly by women. Research suggests that triangular apron-like garments were first worn by noblemen in Ancient Egypt, as evidenced in paintings from the time. In the Middle Ages, aprons made from leather and heavy canvas were worn by farriers, cobblers, butchers, blacksmiths and other tradesmen desiring heavy duty protection from the perils of their work. Then, during the Renaissance, European 'women of means' wore elaborate yet washable aprons adorned with lace and embroidery to keep their luxurious gowns clean. Aprons were a fixture of many employments during the industrial revolution, with strict codes delineating the styles to be worn by staff (plain, workaday) and the styles worn by the women holding the purse strings (elaborate, embroidered and made from more costly cloths). In the 1950s, the apron came to be a symbol of homemaking particularly in the United States — think Lucille Ball's Lucy Ricardo character in the 1950s sitcom 'I Love Lucy' or more recently January Jones' portrayal of Betty Draper in 'Mad Men.' Despite the garment being such a part of our collective consciousness, aprons have rarely been studied, said Clark.' Collections, such as the one held by the Fashion Museum (in Bath, England), are huge and of great cultural value and significance, but there hasn't really been sustained research done on them,' she explained. While displaying aprons comes with its own set of challenges — the style is tricky to mount due to its flat construction — Clark also suspects aprons have 'not been considered of cultural importance because of their relationship to traditionally women's domestic work.' But perhaps that's changing as the apron continues to be modernized, further cementing itself into popular culture. Thanks to Gen-Z's increasing interest in food and cooking, apron-wearing is finding a new genderless and more diverse audience. While alpha male chefs of old wouldn't often be seen in a pinafore (Gordon Ramsay aside, aprons were the preserve of a 'cook') Carmy's proud pinny-wearing is a case in point. Even Vogue magazine decreed the return of the garment (alongside the rise of what they termed 'gardening-core') in their June 2025 issue. 'There's some beautiful imagery of the late (fashion journalist and muse) Anna Piaggi with Karl Lagerfeld, using a Chanel cape as an apron,' said Clark. 'I love their shape, their mobility, that they're not fitted and so therefore are a truly inclusive garment… I love how easily the item can be subverted. It just refuses to be defined.'
Time Out
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Three U.S. restaurants just made this year's World's 100 Best Restaurants list
Ahead of the grand reveal of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025—set to be announced in Turin, Italy on Thursday June 19—the extended list of restaurants ranked 51 to 100 has landed, and three U.S. standouts made the global list, including two seafood-focused stunners in New York. This year's selection spans six continents and 25 countries and, as always, is a showcase of global culinary excellence. From São Paulo to San Francisco, Atxondo to Queenstown, restaurants across 37 cities made the cut. And while these dining destinations didn't manage to crack that coveted top 50 list, they're anything but second tier. In the United States, one newcomer and two previous list-makers have been recognized. César in New York makes its debut at number 98. Helmed by César Ramirez—whose résumé includes such acclaimed kitchens as The French Laundry, Le Bernardin and Brooklyn Fare—it's a sleek, seafood-centered temple of precision and power, with dishes like his now-iconic uni toast. Atelier Crenn in San Francisco returns to the list at number 96. Chef Dominique Crenn's tasting menu remains one of the most emotionally resonant experiences in the game, with her team (including dessert wizard Juan Contreras) delivering magic plate after plate. And a second NYC restaurant, the legendary Le Bernardin, comes in at number 90. Here, chef Eric Ripert continues to elevate globally influenced French cuisine across multiple tasting menus in an effortlessly elegant setting. You can check out which other exceptional eateries made it to the World's 50 Best extended list here. As for that other half of the prestigious rankings, the top 50 best restaurants will be announced on June 19 at a lavish Italian ceremony. Last year, two U.S. restaurants made the list—Atomix in New York, NY and Single Thread in Healdsburg, CA. If you want to catch the action, the ceremony will be livestreamed from Turin at 8pm (local time) on the World's 50 Best YouTube channel.
Irish Examiner
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Seafood Made Simple: These home baked beans go well with any piece of fish
Netflix series Chef's Table is back with a new season. This time around, the focus is honouring four 'Legends'. There's Alice Waters, who pioneered the farm-to-table movement in America. Her restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California opened in 1971 and is still going today. Then there's Thomas Keller, chef owner of the famous The French Laundry in Napa Valley, where he has held three Michelin stars for 18 years. The king of fine dining in America, he has another three Michelin-star restaurant, Per Se, in New York city. José Andrés, born in Spain, has a whopping 40 restaurants in America. In 2010, he founded the non-profit organisation Central Food Kitchen, providing meals across the world in response to humanitarian, climate and community crises. He's been included twice in Time magazine's most influential people. I was delighted to see Jamie Oliver included in this series. Oftentimes, he doesn't get the respect I feel he deserves within the industry. He's the chef on this list that's influenced me the most. So much so, that I'm not sure what I'd be doing now if his TV shows like Naked Chef hadn't sparked my interest in food all those years ago. His episode charts his rise to fame at 24, how he made cooking cool and uncomplicated, without the use of technical language, authored 35 books with dyslexia, his hugely impactful work navigating the reform of school dinners in the UK and his contribution to the sugar tax legislation. This weekend's recipe, gurnard with home baked beans, is all about that kind of simplicity. These beans would work as a side dish with any piece of fish, so use whatever is available to you. They are great with chunky fillets of hake and pollock. Gurnard is a fabulous fish. Lesser known and underutilised it's native to our waters. Gurnard with Home Baked Beans recipe by:Aishling Moore These beans would work as a side dish with any piece of fish, so use whatever is available to you. Servings 4 Preparation Time 15 mins Cooking Time 2 hours 10 mins Total Time 2 hours 25 mins Course Main Ingredients For the baked beans 250g dried cannellini beans (or 2 x 235g of cannellini beans drained) 2 tbsp olive oil 1 small bulb garlic 2 sprigs rosemary For the tomato sauce 3 tbsp golden rapeseed oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp smoked paprika 1 pinch cayenne pepper 1 tsp dried oregano 300ml passata 1 tbsp honey 25g butter Salt Black pepper For the gurnard 4 x large fillets of gurnard (or 8 small) 2 tbsp golden rapeseed oil Fine sea salt 1 lemon Method Soak the beans overnight (or at least 10 hours before you plan on cooking) in 1 litre of boiling water in a large bowl. Strain the soaked beans and rinse well under cool running water in a colander. Grease a large pot or Dutch oven with the olive oil and place the rinsed beans, garlic bulb, herbs and bay leaf inside. Top up with 1.1 litres of boiling water and season generously with sea salt and place a tight- fitting lid on. Bake in a 175°C preheated oven for 1 hour 45 minutes. Check after one hour, as cooking time can differ depending on the beans. Remove from the oven, discard the stalks of rosemary and garlic. To make the sauce, heat a medium heavy-based pot on medium heat. Add the garlic and cook in the rapeseed oil for 2 minutes until golden. Add the smoked paprika, cayenne and oregano and cook for a further minute before adding the passata. Add the honey, season with salt and black pepper and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 8-10 minutes to reduce the sauce. Add the drained beans and warm through. Finish with butter and taste to correct seasoning. Keep warm while cooking the gurnard. For the fish: Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease a large baking tray with rapeseed oil. Place the fillets of gurnard on the greased tray and brush each fillet generously with rapeseed oil. Season with fine sea salt and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until the fish is cooked through and flakes when gently pressed. Finish with lemon juice and serve. Fish tales Gurnard is one of the trickier species to fillet, so I'd recommend relying on your local fishmonger to tackle this fish. You'll find bones running down the centre of the fillet of gurnard. I recommend asking your fishmonger to remove these also. Make sure you use a baking tray large enough to have space between the fillets of fish to allow the heat to circulate evenly. If you're going to the trouble of soaking and baking the beans in the oven, you'll have some leftovers. Add to salads, soups and stews or make a cannellini bean hummus. Refrigerate leftovers for up to three days. These beans are also great for breakfast. Read More Seafood Made Simple: My Welsh Rarebit blends fish with cheese for an oceanic oomph
Telegraph
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Chef's Table: Legends, review: before Jamie Oliver, cooking was for losers
Television is laden with food. From drama to entertainment factual, from The Bear to Boiling Point to Bake-Off to MasterChef, chow is cool. Ten years of Netflix's Chef's Table, which casts chefs as rock stars and restaurants as their much-hyped backing bands, attests to a complete reassessment of what food means. There was a queue 200-long for a pop-up selling baked potatoes in Soho last week. This means something (although it may just be that the spud fans have never heard of the Emperor's New Clothes). For its 10th anniversary, Chef's Table has re-emerged as Chef's Table: Legends (Netflix), granting an hour each to Jamie Oliver, José Andrés, Thomas Keller and Alice Waters. Of these, British viewers will most likely have heard only of Oliver, unless the names (and prices) of American restaurants The French Laundry, Chez Panisse and minibar happen to be palatable. But while Legends may appear to be just hagiography – and there is indeed a great deal of kissing the ring – over the course of the series it does make a compelling case that what these four chefs have done is more than just amusing bouches. Oliver's societal influence is the most obvious – it's why he gets people's backs up even as he's selling millions of books. With the calm and ease of hindsight, Chef's Table makes a strong argument for how he has changed British cuisine. It's not that complex a history – before Oliver, the British were not great chefs, cooking was for losers and no self-respecting young Oasis fan would be seen dead at a fishmonger's. After Oliver, cooking was cool and something boys did to get girls. He changed TV cookery, and cookery, and eating. The films about Andres, Keller and Waters are if anything even more beautiful to look at (side issue, but food photography in 2025 is so good it is practically Pavlovian) but, as with the Oliver film, they also tease out how something as high-end as fine dining trickles down into mainstream culture. Andres, for example introduced the small plates phenomenon to American cuisine (for which this diner thinks he should be par-boiled, though opinions may differ). Waters, with Chez Panisse, championed the farm-to-table movement, which has ultimately led to people thinking a little bit more about where their food has come from and why that might matter. And Keller has done his best to de-poncify fine dining, while still maintaining two three-Michelin-starred restaurants for more than a decade. Are they all democratisers, as Chef's Table maintains? Well millions of us are waiting for the next series of The Bear, which is all about fine dining and food and standards and caring (and indeed, featured one Thomas Keller in a father figure role last season). As this series shows, you don't have to have eaten their food to understand why these people deserve some veneration. Chances are that without The Naked Chef sliding down the bannisters like a prune, very few people in the UK would be watching The Bear or paying any interest to a Netflix documentary series called Chef's Table.
