Movies - TV
How Jeremy Allen White Got His Kitchen Experience Preparing For The Bear
By MICHAEL BOYLE
As part of his preparation for playing Chicago chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in “The Bear,” Jeremy Allen White spent two weeks at a “kind of crash course in culinary school,” he explained to Uproxx. He then got some experience working in an actual restaurant for a month in Santa Monica, California, one where the chef had worked in Chicago for a long time.
White was grateful for the experience, sharing, “I felt I could ask [the chef] a lot about the food scene specifically in Chicago. [...] They were all very welcoming. I just tried to show up and be respectful because I knew I wasn't going to be helpful.” After the first few weeks of only working prep, White had learned enough to survive a regular shift in the restaurant.
White said, “My last week or two there, they did let me work the line on Thursday nights, which is a pretty busy night. And it's an open kitchen ... all the diners, customers, they can see what's going on in the kitchen. So, that was very stressful, but it also gave me a lot of confidence that they put me in that position and didn't immediately take me off.”