The Bear food tour offers fans a taste of the action

Claudia Dietrich and Ross Lloyd boarded a bus to the hottest tourist spot in River North. While their guide told them all about Chicago, the couple took photos from every angle – even from the alley. The line outside the front door didn’t deter them.

“That’s something that brought us to Chicago, there’s no doubt about it,” said Dietrich, a 72-year-old Milwaukee resident.

Their destination? Mr. Beef, the no-frills sandwich shop featured in the Hulu hit “The Bear.” It’s the first stop on their guided culinary tour inspired by the series.

A traditional Chicago sandwich shop may seem like an unconventional excursion, but since The Bear opened, tourists have been flocking there in droves. Mr Beefwhich premiered in River North in 1963. Ahead of the release of the third season on Wednesday, the series’ cult following is experiencing new enthusiasm.

Just ask any of the 30 food tour participants who took the bus to six restaurants in River North, the West Loop and Logan Square last Friday afternoon. Many of the restaurants on the tour served as Filming locations for the series.

“I just find the show so authentic,” Dietrich said after sampling an Italian beef sandwich with giardiniera. “And you can practically taste the food when you’re watching.”

The Bear follows Carmy, a young gourmet chef who plans to turn his late brother’s sandwich shop into an upscale restaurant. There, he clashes with the motley, unpretentious staff in often frightening kitchen scenes – most of which were filmed at Mr. Beef. When we called a Mr. Beef manager to ask how business was going ahead of the premiere, he told the Tribune he didn’t have time to comment because of the line of customers out the door.

The series was praised for its brutal portrayal of the restaurant industry and its lovable characters and won six Primetime Emmys this year, including Best Comedy Series.

Chicago Food & City Tours launched the themed tours in November after guests had been asking for them for months. The tour is modeled after episode 3 of season 2, in which sous chef Sydney goes around the city trying out different restaurants – not unlike a food tour, says Hannah Gleeson, the company’s director of operations.

“It just became very obvious that there was a demand and people wanted it,” said Gleeson. “Our team has been a fan of The Bear for a long time, so why not try and give people the same experience?”

As guide Casey Ross led the group, he wore a blue apron over a white T-shirt – the uniform of the fictional Original Beef of Chicagoland. He also held a tip jar made from a tomato can, another homage to the show. The tour’s charter bus was abuzz with excitement.

“We have only one hard and fast rule,” Ross, 41, told the group. “If I ask a question, the answer is -“

“Yes, boss,” they replied.

“Have you been practicing outside?” Ross joked.

Ross, like most of the guests, is an avid fan of “The Bear.” He moved from Kansas to Chicago over eight years ago. The actor even auditioned for a small role in the upcoming season – but didn’t get it.

“I can’t wait to see the episode and find out who they hired,” he said. “I’ll be so mad if it’s another bearded redhead.”

After Mr. Beef, guests sampled potstickers from Time Out Market, pepperoni pizza at Pizza Lobo, donuts at Roeser’s Bakery, hot fudge sundaes at Margie’s Candies and drinks at Green Door Tavern.

Choosing the stops was a lengthy process, says Gleeson. Many of the restaurants featured on the show had Michelin stars – Elske, Ever and Kasama, for example. Others, like the tiny Lao Peng You in Ukrainian Village, couldn’t accommodate large groups.

The three-hour tour remains one of the company’s most popular, often selling out on the Fridays and Saturdays it runs. Typically the crowd is an even mix of locals and tourists, and private tours are also available, Gleeson added.

“‘The Bear’ showcases Chicago’s diverse food scene in such an amazing way,” Gleeson said. “And it’s a lot more fun to do something like that than just going to Mr. Beef.”

Outside Roeser’s in Humboldt Park, sisters Joan and Cora Lanman pondered possible storylines for the show’s upcoming season. As they posed for photos, they traded theories: Were co-stars Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri together in real life? Would their characters be together on the show? And what about Carmy’s girlfriend Claire, who he dumped in the last episode?

“I just think season 2 is one of the best seasons of television ever,” said Joan, 22. She has seen the series three times. “I think the script is so realistic that it doesn’t feel like a television series.”

The sisters, from Atlanta, are visiting their parents in Chicago. The best thing about “The Bear” is that it creates space for personal growth for each character, they said. Take Richie, Carmy’s disgruntled family friend, who discovers his passion for hospitality during a feel-good montage set to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.”

“I love Richie,” said 19-year-old Cora. ​​”And I love this Taylor Swift song. This episode makes me so happy.”

Then there’s 72-year-old Diane Thomas, who fell in love with “The Bear” because it portrays the complex dynamics of the kitchen and the pitfalls of running a family business. As a teenager, Thomas worked at her own family’s sandwich shop in Michigan, Stage Delicatessen. Her brother still owns the business.

“All of our cousins, nieces and nephews work together,” Thomas said. “I think ‘The Bear’ shows the true chaos that goes on in the kitchen.”

Sitting next to her, eating potstickers at Time Out Market, was 68-year-old Jim Walsh. The friends call each other “playmates” – Walsh is a recent widower, while Thomas’ husband prefers to spend his days at home. They often take tours of the city.

“I just love things like that,” Thomas said.

Further down the table, other guests were chatting about the show. Here, “The Bear” took precedence over all other forms of small talk.

“I actually saw Jeremy Allen White on a late-night show last night,” Tiffany Harding said between bites. “One of the Jimmys was the host.”

“Of course we had to watch it again as we were excited for the release of season three,” said Terri Henry. “We’re ready.”

After three rounds of “The Bear” quiz, the bus finally pulled up in front of the famous Green Door Tavern. Each guest chose either an Old Fashioned or a lemonade. Ross was still smiling as he stood at the wooden bar three and a half hours later.

“I love talking to people, and I love sharing information and telling a good story,” Ross said. “I’m an actor, so I crave an audience, I guess.”

Ross said he, like many others, was nervous about the crew’s new restaurant and the fate of the characters he had grown so fond of, but the excitement was stronger than the stress.

“All of these characters become three-dimensional and I can’t wait to see more of that,” he said. “That and the lovingly crafted shots of Chicago. It’s a love letter to the city.”