Why the Owner of the Shop That Inspired ‘The Bear’ Hasn’t Seen the Show: ‘Somebody’s Still Got to Make Beef’
variety.comSophia Scorziello editor Chris Zucchero, owner of Chicago’s beloved Italian sandwich shop Mr. Beef, is on the “L” trying to get a word in on the phone.
He just wrapped up a long two days of catering parties for FX’s “The Bear” Season 2, providing hot Italian beef sandwiches with sweet peppers and spicy giardiniera for Hollywood’s finest. “The Bear” creator Christopher Storer — who Zucchero has been friends with since kindergarten — based “The Bear” on the classic establishment and shot about 90% of the pilot in Mr.
Beef. Storer even cast Zucchero in the pilot as the guy in the parking lot who deals meat to Jeremy Allen White’s character Carmy.
Still, Zucchero hasn’t watched a single episode of “The Bear,” and probably won’t ever. It’s not for lack of interest or support — he just can’t afford to lose sight of the restaurant that’s been feeding Chicago for six decades, since his father acquired the original Mr.
Read more on variety.com