Hi everyone, welcome to potluck food talks. Today we're going to talk about the bear season two. So you finished it. Yeah. Am I late to the party again? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So like season two, just to narrow it down. This one ends at the day of the opening of the restaurant and it goes through the whole opening process of a restaurant. Yes. And I think it portrayed pretty well.
I've worked in a few openings and it's a very stressful situation, like an opening, you know, where you have to pick up the dishes, the decoration, developing the dishes, doing also some market research, going around to the neighborhood restaurants and see what they're doing, tasting a lot of things, figuring out the palette of the audience you're going to have.
Setting free rats in the cellar of your competitors, bribing local producers to bring you the prime stuff first before other restaurants. Stealing chefs from good restaurants. Oh yeah. Yeah. That's an important one. That happened. Like there was a scene like that, no, where Sydney is kind of going, she's like, Hey guys, you're looking for... and then the guy comes on and she's like, really? You're stealing, you're poaching right in front of my front door? Fuck off. Have you stolen chefs?
Oh yeah. Have you been stolen? I am currently stealing chefs. I have stolen chefs. I am ruthless. Okay. And have you been stolen? Let me think. I was actually stolen from Bolivia. I mean, yeah, kind of, kind of. Yeah. But I mean, you know, business is business. Yeah, sure. It's a free market. Yeah, it's a free market. Chefs have gotten stolen from me. All right. Yeah, of course. Absolutely. That speaks very bad from you. Yeah. Hey, you know, it's, loyalty is hard to find these days.
Loyalty is royalty. And then we have like this, again, this binding narrative across the whole series that is this dealing with addictions or this very complicated private life work balance that you find in hospitality. And like in this season, my favorite character becomes for sure Richie. 100%. 100%, right? Yeah. Honestly, for me, like I've also watched season three, which we're not going to go into right now.
But over the whole of the series, by far my favorite episode is episode, I think it's seven in season two forks. Yes. Because of, I mean, we'll get into it later, I'm sure in detail. But yeah, what a beautiful, what a beautiful message inside of that. Yeah. That's my favorite episode. And I also want to go deep into that one. But before that, so it starts with Sydney having struggles with her family about if it's worth going into these lifestyles.
And this is also something like cooks need to be a little bit crazy. You know, like if you do like the pros and cons, it usually, many times the cons are bigger but you do it anyway, because it's just out of passion and love. And you know, it just fills you like whatever you're doing in this industry, you know?
Yeah. But like at the same time, I found that like tricky because like, you know, I think we all have had this experience of like one family member being like, hey, sure you want to do this? Like, oh, the pay is not good hours along the work is hard, etc, etc. Or even like what and you work 16 hours a day and then and you're spare time, you're reading cookbooks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They don't get it.
But what I found difficult about about Sydney in this season was I like her better in this season than season one. I think she matures, she becomes a better leader. You're not so much. No, no, I think that she behaves in a really awful way. Like she, you know, she gets promoted, like she gets hired as a sous chef, does that sort of passively, then straight away gets promoted to be a head chef.
So Kami is the executive chef, which what the fuck does that mean in a restaurant that doesn't exist yet? You know, it's just titles thrown around. And you see her go through the opening process, basically doing fuck all just walking around eating and having constant struggles with trusting Kami. And this, you know, this general process where I was kind of watching and I was thinking, I'm sorry, but where is your entitlement coming from?
This guy is just giving you the head chef position and the potential to partnership in a restaurant where he is putting his own name with three hundred thousand bucks on the line. What are you investing into this business? Are you investing money? Do you think this ever happens? Like, do you think this happens a lot that you get made partner in something that you're not invested money in? That is not the real world. And it's kind of like, what have you done to deserve this?
Well, I see the differently. I see that Kami really trusts her and she also is kind of like the only person he really listens to, like because she comes and tells him the things nobody tells him. And he really values that. And I think that that's kind of like like like that, like the value exchange they have. Yeah, I get that. I get that part. But what I don't get is her reluctancy then, you know, because he is like, hey, I really want to work this with you. And he's giving her a lot.
He's giving her responsibility. He's giving her possibilities. You know, he's building this kitchen. He's talking to her, you know. I mean, and later on, it gets a little bit more difficult with like a decision making process. But she is constantly like, should I do it? Should I not do it?
And it's kind of like, bro, like, like if you don't want to do it and don't do it, but like, don't be so entitled about it, you know, because she's constantly having this like, hey, I why are you not doing this? I need this. And it's kind of like, where's this this entitlement coming from of like forcing this thing? You know, it's kind of like, hey, where is this? I need this now. Have you done this? It's kind of like, bro, chill the fuck out.
Yeah. But at the same time, like that's a very common relationship between chef and sous chef or executive chef and head chef. You know, like usually the executive one does less and the other one needs to be all over the place doing everything on the top of everything. That's true. And there's many, many times like this relationship where the sous chef hates the head chef or the head chef hates the executive chef because they feel I'm doing everything and he's not doing anything.
That's very, very, very common. That is true. But with them, it's kind of like opposite because throughout the, like, Karmie is also not doing what he could. And that is an overlying theme in the second season because because he's got his relationship with Claire. Right. Which I think I thought was very beautiful. Claire, the kind of character that anybody would want in their life. Super supportive, super calming.
But he's conflicted because he knows that he's spending more time and more energy or something else that does not work, which is new for him, which I think is something that we can all relate to from this very efficiency driven job that we're doing. Yeah. Also later in the series, it also happens and I've seen this many times where suddenly the chef is saying, yeah, I had this conversation last night with Claire and blah, blah, blah.
And everybody's like, okay, and it's now your girlfriend part of the team. But even worse, I've seen this where the actual the head chef and the maid were together and they would come in the morning like, oh, we had this conversation last night, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now we're going to do this and that change.
And it's really awkward, you know, because it's like you're being left out of the decision making process and they don't need, they don't give a shit, you know, like, and that's really, I would say, unhealthy for a team environment. It's very unhealthy and it's not cool. And like, Carmen's not acting super cool there either. And he's also like just neglecting.
I mean, this is a common theme until the very end of the season, that he's neglecting his duties and he doesn't call the fucking fridge guy, for example. Right. But then at the same time, you know, what I thought was troubling is that Sydney basically spends her entire time going around like visiting chefs and eating and cooking.
And like, what was really awkward for me to watch is that she was like cooking things, trying things out and they were tasting them and they'd be like, oh, no, and spitting it out. And I'm like, man, that would like at a head chef level, that doesn't happen. Yeah. Like you try something, you're like, ah, doesn't quite work. I'll do it again. But you would never ever make something that you eat that's unedible. You know, it's like, it's your black belt, you know, in your thing.
Yeah. These are the things that don't happen anymore. Yeah, I agree. What I do like is during that whole creative process, also the imagery, like that there are like this, I don't know, like this moments where you see dishes and memories and going to restaurants and ordering everything in the menu just to get a taste of everything. And I thought that that was really fun to watch. Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely. And I mean, like, I think we've all done that now, kind of like go somewhere, get inspiration. I mean, yesterday was a good example. Well, we were yesterday at normal, by the way. I don't know when you when you're listening to this. Then openings, man, openings are really difficult.
It's like a really intense process opening a restaurant, you have to, because I'm not only making a building, doing like the whole decoration setting up the space that has to work, you know, for the next couple of years, it has to work from the very beginning, but then you have to train, then the construction has to be on time. And it's never on time. That is the thing. If you ever do an opening, just as kind of like like with events, it's like, oh, but they're meant to start eating at 630.
It's like they're not going to start eating at 630. Always remember, like always try to have the mentality it's always going to get delayed. Construction is always going to get delayed at least three months. Yeah, yeah, just have that in mind. Don't you're an idiot if you're like, oh, well, the plan is that construction finishes in February. So we're going to open in March. Don't exactly don't do that.
Yeah. I mean, this hotel opening I participated in Latin America and the construction workers were taking naps in the imported mattresses for the rooms. Yeah, I mean, I mean, it's the same, you know, like when I was like, I think openings are really fun because also, of course, they're very stressful, but they're also full of opportunity because you can shape everything. Right.
So for example, now we're like five months ago when I came into my current kitchen, everything was a mess, but everything was kind of there. And you look at the kitchen, you're like, man, this is weirdly designed. There's like there's like no oven on the social side, but there's an oven on the garden like and like a warming drawer and stuff that would have been way better on the other side.
Like these sorts of things, you know, and actually kitchen planning and kitchen organization is a very interesting skill that also I feel like very lucky that I've been part of a couple of openings, because if you have to do it the first time, you never did it. There's lots of things to think about that you maybe didn't think about it, about, you know, efficiency of movement.
It's like that scene where Kami is sort of like, he draws the plan and which is something that I've done also, but he's like, he moves from station to station. He's like, yeah, the dish has to be able to get finished in like, I don't know, like 10 seconds or something like that. And it's kind of ridiculous, like no dish gets to finish in 10 seconds. Like that's ridiculous. But these sort of plans and this kind of like ergonomic, organic movement inside of a space, that's super crucial.
Absolutely. That's super interesting. I really hated that I've been in some processes where I as a chef or the chef who was a chef was not involved in the design process. And I think that that's like a terrible mistake. Absolutely. Yeah. Like suddenly the owner took the decisions with the architect and then the chef, he can just walk in and work there for the next years and then, you know, figure out what we thought for him, you know. It is such a huge mistake in general.
Like one of my old mentors and a friend of mine that you also know, Michael Hupfle, he once said the best, like the best managers or chefs because they understand everything, like all the stuff. And it's kind of like if you as a business owner, you don't involve, you don't have a good chef, a good head chef who knows what's going on, who knows the processes and you don't trust, you don't involve them in the process. You don't trust this person with their professional insight.
It's gonna, there's gonna be a lot of mistakes that are gonna impede your day to day business. Like an example I can think of, Dos Palillos in Berlin. This was a hotel, a restaurant at Casa Camper. And I think it had like some kind of architecture prize, the way they build the restaurant. But for me, they did two very stupid mistakes. First of all, like they did this walls that were like metal, like, you know, kitchen metal and you have to polish them twice a day.
And the floors of the kitchen were all white, you know, like, and I mean, like, it's not that you don't have to clean, it's that you don't want it to look dirty if just like a dot falls into the ground and you have to clean it right away. And that's something like for sure, no chef decided. Yeah, absolutely.
Because they'd be like, well, what the fuck, you know, it's like, you know, I mean, when I came back to Berlin, I was involved in an opening also, there were so many things and it's kind of like, and then I look at the kitchen, it's already half built. And I'm like, what's, what grip do the floor does the floor material have? And they're like, grip? It's just tiles. And I'm like, are you fucking retarded?
Like, how, like, how is that on something that you think of, you know, as I use like small things, they're like, Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, there's like liquids and fats that can fall on the floor. And it's like super dangerous and blah. And it's like, man, seriously, yeah, please jail for you. No, honestly, it's fucking life threatening these sorts of decisions.
Because also, like people don't understand, I had a very serious conversation, we're getting a little bit of topic here, but I had a very serious conversation with a, with a kitchen porter who's a little bit older, and he walked behind me a few times. I was like, Hey, if you walk behind me to say behind, right, please, or like something, you know, and he's like, yes, yes, yes, I know. And he did it again and again. And I stopped him again. I said, Hey, look, please walk.
What do you say when you walk behind me to say something, everybody? Yeah, I know. I know. I know. And then the next time I stopped and I was like, okay, listen to me, you don't start saying something. I'm going to throw you out of this fucking kitchen because you are threatening the safety of everybody. Like, it's such a small thing, but it's like fucking serious. It's not a gimmick. It's not a fucking joke.
Somebody who turns around with a hot pan of water and or oil or oil or a knife or whatever and fucking slammed it in your face. Like whose ass is on the line? Mine. You know, because I'm responsible for all of this shit. And you either start doing it or you can pack your shit and go. And he was like, Oh, I'm really sorry. And he started doing it. But like people don't understand this, that like a kitchen is actually like a dangerous environment. You have to take it seriously.
Anyway, back to the bear. Well, also restaurant openings. I also worked at this place where and that's also like an interesting part of the series where they send people to train in different places like to culinary schools or the other restaurants. I work in this place where they said like the whole team abroad to the stashes and just 5% came back. So imagine the level of asshole you have to be to get repaid like that for such an action. Man, that happened to me one time.
Like when I was working in Ryugin, we had this guy and he when you were doing when you were staging in Ryugin back in the day, they would pay for you to go to Ryugin Tokyo, Ryugin Taipei and Ryugin Hong Kong. I think it was no. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that three Ryugins. And you as a stash would get paid to fucking fly to Taipei to Hong Kong, have accommodation there and work in the in the restaurants. Amazing, right?
And this guy, he came to like Tokyo first and and he was kind of working and he was kind of like meh. And then he they flew him to Hong Kong and he just disappeared. I can just started working and living in Hong Kong and basically like a flight all expenses paid, you know, like super shitty. Yeah, I felt that that also happens on cruise ships.
They really take care that you have like a like a physical address where you live so you don't run away, you know, like you just get somewhere in the world and never come back. So but yeah, like what's the name? Tina? Is it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I see. And she sent the CUNY high school. Marcus is sent here where we are right now to Copenhagen and he eats the chicken sandwich we had yesterday at Poulet. Yeah, he does. How was it? You liked it? It was a decent chicken sandwich.
It wasn't the best chicken sandwich I had in my life, but it was delicious. I liked that it was like very nice and like a nice level of spice. She goes very crispy. I like the chicken sandwich. The the tofu for me, it was not out of the sun. It was nice. Just nice. It could have easily been a lot better. Yeah, just a few seasoning. Yeah, I agree.
I mean, is this something that if I'd lived here, I'd get every now and again, like from walking by, I'm like, hey, you want to go, you want to grab a chicken sandwich? But yeah, it was it was okay. Yeah, like I really like that training that Marcus gets here in Copenhagen that he starts seeing like really precision cooking with this mentor he has like this pastry that used to work with Karmie. Yes. You know what I liked about that episode is that like, you know, they meet Karmie, right?
And Karmie comes from this environment. He has a certain mentality and Karmie comes into a very chaotic environment and he is the alien there. Right. So they don't really pick up on this, but once they step out of this environment and they go into an environment where they're the alien with their lack of this attitude, he starts to understand it. You know, he starts to be like, oh, hold on.
Yeah. And then he comes back and the same thing happens then later with Richie that he comes back and then they're like, I understand them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So in between there is this, which is one of the best episodes of the season, the fucked up family episode. Oh my God. That was, that was rough to watch. The mother is so crazy. It's so bananas. Jesus Christ. I have to think about that sometimes with such a heart wrenching moment with her daughter trying not to say, are you okay?
The whole night and you can, and when she finally does it, it's like a, it's like a compulsion. Like she can't help herself because it's her way of kind of relating to her mother. And everybody's like, oh no, she didn't. Exactly. But I feel so bad for the daughter because you can see that it's like this genuine, you know? Yeah. But also this way of coping with it and trying to sort of like have like a supportive role for her mother because of like this like weird harshness between them.
Like, I don't know. That's how I interpreted it anyway, but still her not being able to help herself saying that even though she knows what effect it will have, which is the mother completely freaking out. It's like the worst Christmas I've ever seen in my life, man. It's like everything I don't want to see in a Christmas dinner.
You know, I got my mom to start watching the bear and we watched the first couple of episodes and then she like, after I left, like when I was visiting her, she like kept sending me messages about the show. She was like, Jesus Christ. And then she wrote me about the Christmas episode. She was like, I could not watch it. I had to turn it off because it's so stressful. It's stressful. All the episodes are good.
I've heard a lot of people say to me, people from the hospitality industry, they told me they can't watch the bear because they get anxious. You know, like it's not like something fun for them. It's like post-traumatic disorder. Like, yeah. But if that's, I would say that if that's the case, like I get it, but I feel like that speaks of some unresolved issues that maybe people should look at because you need to be able to detach from this sort of shit.
Then if you, if you can't watch it, it's like, it's like, maybe do you still have some trauma kicking around, you know? I really like how they bridge that episode where, what's the name of the brother? Mikey. Yeah. Yeah. Where he, he throws the fork, this whole fork situation. Uh, Richie, you mean? No, no, no. Like, um, Karmic's brother. Yeah. Uh, Mikey. Yeah. Where he throws this fork to this asshole that is messing with him. Did you think he was the asshole?
Do you think the brother was the asshole? I think that that guy was the asshole. Really? Because I was like, I was kind of like, I kind of got the stepdad because Mikey was being that was a stepdad. Yeah. Because Mikey was a fucking asshole. Like the whole night. Yeah. Also, also. Yeah. All of them were being so horrible. Yeah. But I mean, like, you know, you're telling a story and somebody interrupts and say, are you already told that story more than once? You're a fucking idiot, man.
Like, you know, like shut the fuck up. It's Christmas. Let him finish his story. The thing is that like Mikey already like two or three times said like a shit thing to him. So then it was like his turn and then Mikey can't take it. You know, he's like, he keeps making like a joke and blah. And then suddenly it's his time to tell a story. He gets interrupted, he gets all upset. And the dad is like, no, you know what? Fuck you. And I got it. And then it's like, yeah, yeah, all of them were.
I really like that. That's super funny. Like this guy that is who, who's that? Like he's like, I don't know. He's a, uh, he's not from the family. He's somebody's boyfriend or fiance. Uh, the posh one with the, he's the boyfriend from his sister. Exactly. That is like, okay. Now you say the blessing. He's like, we are very thankful that we're here. Yeah. He's like full of Labrador energy. Yeah. I really like how they bridge this forks episode with the next episode. That was my favorite episode.
A hundred percent, a hundred percent. I mean, um, with Richie arriving at the restaurant, which I guess it was supposed to be like 11 Madison park. No, was it? No, I really, like I thought maybe the kitchen, but I, it felt like a linear to me somehow. Yeah. And there was also this, you know, the head chef from next somewhere in the background. Yeah, yeah, yeah. True. And that's a fictional chef. This Terry. Yeah, yeah, of course. Of course. I mean, they're all fictional. Not all.
I mean, they're all blue and, uh, and stuff. Yeah. But you know, like he arrives there and he has to polish forks and he doesn't get it. And he's like, Bob, and he's doing a really shit job. And then one of the guys is sort of like, he's like, yeah, you just gotta be polishing forks for a week here, you know? And he gets really pissed off. He just wants to, he thinks that Kami sent him there to get rid of him. And then this guy, he's not polishing a fork correctly.
Like he's not doing it properly. This guy takes him out and he's like, man, like, what the fuck? Do you not want to be here? Like, and he's like, wow, I'm polishing forks. What the fuck? And he's like, no, you don't get it. This is part of like a whole thing. This is a small aspect of this whole thing that we all want to be great. And that means that we need great forks, which means we need them to be clean and polished. And the guy's like, no, I, I love that.
It was sort of like, Hey, look, don't, don't bullshit me. I know how hard it is to find good stuff. And he's like, we don't have that problem. We don't have that problem here. People are lining up to work here. And he's like, Oh, you really zip this cool later. And he's like, yes, I do. I fucking love it here. I love being here. I love working here. I love seeing the people come here. I love seeing their face.
And that's like amazing, like hospitality is like this, like obsessed mindset of just striving for excellence and how Richie bit by bit sees these little glimpses of what makes this job special, you know, and it catches onto him and he gets completely transformed. He gets completely transformed. And then he, and then he wants to involve himself. He sees it's like infectious and it is infectious. And then he's like, can I please do this? And they're like, okay, you do it.
And he does it and he fucking sees it. He gets it. He enjoys it. And then he's like, I'm in a rush and the scene where he then drives home listening to Taylor Swift is so beautiful. I had to cry when I watched that. It was so nice, you know, because it's this spark that lit the fire that was dead inside of him for such a long time. Yeah. And he was looking for something for some meaning.
And this episode reminded me a lot of two books from Charlie Trotter's Lessons in Excellence and Lessons in Service. For me, those are like the best books on service or excellence in restaurants that I have ever read. And like philosophical books about these kind of things. And I see these things expressed over and over again across this episode. Yeah. What about the last episode?
Yeah, I thought honestly, like when I watched it the first time, it kind of hit me hard because it's like so many things happen in a way that are like, I could relate in a way, you know, to like what was happening because I also have been where you find a chef smoking crack in the backyard. Yeah, constantly. No, honestly, I mean, it's not long ago that I've had that experience, honestly. And I fired that person also straight away. It's relatively common, actually.
Yeah. But I have, you know, been in a situation where I feel like I have sacrificed something for the profession, you know, and for this drive and obsession that you have of striving for something. You mean that moment with Carmy's, he retires having a relationship just to put everything for the fuck everything. I just want this. And he said like, when he says, he's sort of like, nothing is worth me feeling like this right now that I failed, you know, in this thing. And I really felt that.
I really felt that. Feeling failure is like the worst feeling in our restaurant. And you know, like how many times I still have that sometimes where I like I walk home and I had a shit service and I can't switch off.
And I it's just it's like this wave of depression that crushes over you because of like if you take your your job really seriously and what you do and the quality and you identify with it, you kind of make yourself worth dependent on what it is that you're producing and the standard that you're doing it that day. And I've had that very recently that I walked home and like I had a really shit service. It was shit in a lot in a lot of levels. I wasn't happy with the quality of the food.
And no matter how hard we tried, we weren't able to get back on point. And you feel horrible, horrible. And and also that Marcus's mother dies, you know, while he's there, which is also, you know, just a showcase of he's there pushing and other things are staying on the line, you know, and you're missing out on things. I really liked this new Richie on that episode. Yeah, the way he deals with everything. Yeah. But that was heavy. That was really, really heavy. A good, good season overall.
Yeah, good ending. Setting the tone for the next season. Have you watched it yet? Two episodes so far. All right. Yeah, I watched the we went yesterday to have dinner at Norma and I watched the first episode and Norma comes in and I was I just watched three episodes in a row in the airport and fly. And so I was really into it. And suddenly, no, I mean, they're there tonight. Yeah, exciting. That's it for this week's episode of potluck food talks.