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In its third season, \u201cThe Bear,\u201d a television show known for its dedicated hyperrealism, did not disappoint fans looking for real-world culinary references. As Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and their team of former sandwich professionals hustled for a Michelin star or two at their newly opened fine-dining spot, Easter eggs dotted the show. We\u2019ve compiled a short list, with help from restaurant industry professionals, of the most true-to-life nods and hidden surprises:<\/p>\n
In certain corners of Reddit<\/a>, it is rumored that the entire show is loosely based on the life of the chef Curtis Duffy, an owner of Ever<\/a> restaurant in Chicago. But, while the creators have dined at his restaurant, \u201cIf they were studying me, I didn\u2019t know it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The photos of the restaurant critics posted in the Bear office are of actual people, including the New Yorker writer Naomi Fry<\/a>, the \u201cHow Long Gone\u201d podcaster Chris Black<\/a> and Sue Chan, who runs the culinary events and marketing agency Care by Chan<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n On the show, Marcus, the pastry chef played by Lionel Boyce, makes a \u201ccaviar sundae.\u201d A similar dish<\/a> was served at the renowned, now-closed restaurant 108 in Copenhagen, a culinary hotbed to which \u201cThe Bear\u201d has referred numerous times.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n In flashbacks to Carmy\u2019s time at the French Laundry<\/a>, Thomas Keller<\/a>\u2019s restaurant in the Napa Valley, a sign beneath the clock reads, \u201cSense of Urgency.\u201d \u201cThat sign sits under every clock in every restaurant Thomas Keller has,\u201d said Nick Fitch, a co-owner of Alston Hospitality Group who spent 12 years working the dining room at the French Laundry and Per Se<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The Pilot G2 Gel Roller Pen<\/a>, with a .07-millimeter tip that Carmy uses to furiously scribble throughout the season (and to write his list of \u201cnon-negotiables\u201d) caught the eye of Greg Ryan, a co-owner of Bell\u2019s<\/a> in Los Alamos, Calif. who worked in the dining rooms at Per Se and the French Laundry for more than five years. \u201cWhen I was an expediter, those were just the pens you had,\u201d he said. \u201cThey work well on receipt paper, don\u2019t smudge, have a fine tip and write super-smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Much has been made of Mr. Keller\u2019s chicken-trussing demonstration \u2014 \u201cIf you ask him his favorite dish, he\u2019ll say roast chicken<\/a>,\u201d said Mr. Fitch \u2014 but a photo of his handprint cast in concrete also makes an appearance in the season\u2019s first episode. According to Mr. Fitch, the handprint was initially in the kitchen at the French Laundry but was extracted during an extensive renovation and moved outside, along with handprints from Corey Lee<\/a>, a former French Laundry chef de cuisine, and Claire Clark, a former pastry chef at the restaurant.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Joel McHale, who plays Chef David, said<\/a> on \u201cLate Night With Seth Meyers\u201d that he was \u201cportraying\u201d Mr. Keller. \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s as awful as I was, but he does whisper at his employees,\u201d Mr. McHale said. Others have speculated that the character is based on Daniel Humm, the chef at Eleven Madison Park<\/a>. Will Guidara, a producer on \u201cThe Bear,\u201d was a business partner of Mr. Humm\u2019s until the two had a tense public split. Mr. McHale said in a GQ interview<\/a> this week that \u201cDavid is apparently based on Thomas Keller and Daniel Humm,\u201d and added, \u201cThere wasn\u2019t any material. I\u2019ve never met them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n In Episode 2, Carmy calls a dish of sea bass topped with potato chips a \u201cBoulud nod,\u201d as in Daniel Boulud<\/a>, the renowned chef who created crisp paupiettes of sea bass in Barolo sauce<\/a>. That dish uses thinly sliced potatoes as a crust for a skinless fillet, and Mr. Boulud has in turn credited a mullet dish made by Paul Bocuse as his inspiration.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The tip-versus-service-charge conversation among the Bear\u2019s staff touches on a hot-button issue that\u2019s playing out all over the country. Many restaurateurs, most famously Danny Meyer<\/a>, have tried to create a better system, with mixed results<\/a>. In California, a recently passed law seemed to make restaurant service charges illegal<\/a> (as part of a bid to reduce hidden fees), but then a second bill was passed<\/a>, allowing restaurants to keep those fees if they are presented clearly.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/div>\n