Fans got their first glimpse of Season 3 of FX’s The Bear on Wednesday, April 3, when a 53-second clip from Disney’s shareholders meeting, held earlier on Wednesday, landed on social media. The clip has since been taken down. There’s no exact release date for the new season, but the episodes should land on Hulu sometime in June.
Season 2 concludes with the opening of the Bear, a new restaurant that should better showcase Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney Adamu’s (Ayo Edebiri) fine dining experience. Food media didn’t play a big role in previous seasons, and that may change. The leaked clip features Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) chatting with his brother, Ted (Ricky Staffieri) in the back of the Bear, in the restaurant’s office. The Faks yell out to call Carmy to enter so they can unveil a surprise.
The camera pans to a wall of 10 framed photos filled with portraits. It’s a diverse crew including a white guy wearing tinted glasses and a school-aged girl smiling. Fak points to the wall and tells Carmy these are snapshots of “every major food critic.”
It’s not unusual for restaurants to post photos of critics in the kitchen. They’re supposed to be treated as VIPs — to try to ensure more positive media coverage. Ever, a Chicago restaurant featured in Season 2, posts photos of food media in a few places in its kitchen. These photos are often yanked from social media profiles. This is why many food critics once preferred to remain anonymous, to avoid preferential treatment so they can give readers a clearer picture of the dining experience. That trend has changed over time though for a variety of reasons with some longtime anonymous critics publically unmasking and other newer guard critics choosing to forgo the convention.
“I hate this feeling,” Carmy says, looking anxious while scanning the photos from a distance.
After Fak asks Carmy to clarify, the chef replies: “I’m not sure, this looks good, though,” he says to the Faks. “This is smart — good job.”
The camera pans over to the photos and it seems the Fak brothers have written a few words under each critic’s name. There are two women named “Eliza Cameron.” One is listed as a blogger and photographer — the photo is of Sue Chan, food industry vet and former brand director at Momofuku. A second “Eliza” is noted as “mysterious” — “She wrote a couple food books. Didn’t read, though,” the photo reads. Another photograph is of Julian Black, a former assistant general manager at New York’s famed Carbone and currently at Prince Street Hospitality. The array also includes New Yorker writer Naomi Fry.
There’s also the curious case of a critic named “Philip Smart.” He’s dressed in a suit and tie — the photo is actually Chris Black of the podcast How Long Gone. Not all of the text is readable, but zooming in, viewers might be able to make out: “He’s from Atlanta, Doesn’t know shit about Chicago. Tough Guy?” The photo also reads: “Likes room temp water. He’s fake sophisticated.”
It’s impossible to know for sure, but the Atlanta reference might be inspired by Chicago magazine critic John Kessler, a former critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He’s often lamented Chicago’s flaws.
An FX rep says the clip wasn’t approved for wide sharing and asked for the footage to be pulled. Will this scene remain in the show? Chicago and the rest of the world will have to wait until June to find out.
Update, Wednesday, April 3, 4 p.m.: This piece has been updated to reflect that the footage was taken down by FX.
Ashok Selvam
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