Ever may have closed on The Bear, but in real life, the Chicago restaurant is still very much open. “Our publicist said to make that very clear right off the top,†jokes Michael Muser, Ever’s director of operations. Helmed by chef Curtis Duffy and — fortunately — not Olivia Colman’s Andrea Terry, the two-Michelin-star restaurant sits in the city’s Fulton Market neighborhood, where it has offered an eight-to-ten-course tasting menu since opening in July 2020. In The Bear’s season-three finale, the (fictional) restaurant closed, concluding its years of service with a “funeral†dinner for former staff and fellow chefs including Carmy, Sydney, and Richie.
Ever’s status as a touchstone for The Bear’s staff is part of a through-line that began in season two, when Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Richie spends five days learning the ins and outs of front-of-house servive for midseason episode “Forks.†While Richie rails against the restaurant’s extreme attention to detail and particular way of doing things, Duffy and Muser say the actual Ever staff is far more fastidious about its food — and its forks — than audiences saw onscreen. Duffy even had custom cutlery drawers fitted to mitigate contact with human hands once it’s been cleaned.
It’s that attention to detail that landed Ever the Bear gig in the first place, after the show put out a call looking for what Muser says were “the sexiest dining rooms in the city.†Another chef in Chicago told The Bear team to check out Ever, with its pristine stainless-steel kitchen, undulating Venetian plaster walls, and dark, moody hallways. The production team brought 25 people over to the restaurant to scout, promised Duffy and team they’d be careful and respectful, then moved in for five days to follow Richie through a week of staging. Duffy, who is credited as a culinary consultant, helped create some of the dishes featured in “Forks,†and much of the restaurant’s staff stayed on to serve as extras both in the front and the back of the house.
Duffy and Muser were relieved to have Colman on hand as Ever’s onscreen owner and chef. “I was scared they were going to cast someone that looked like Curtis, some fictional version of him, so I was happy that it was Olivia, who is such a huge known entity,†Muser says, adding that Colman is “the sweetest human being.†Colman, Adam Shapiro, and other actors from the show even had dinner at Ever’s cocktail lounge, After, one night after filming season three.
“I watched them film and Olivia had to walk by Jeremy Allen White and criticize him a little, saying something like ‘Two minutes, Chef, always two minutes,’†Muser says, referencing a flashback filmed for the premiere’s Carmy-focused sequences. “As soon as they cut, she’d walk over and apologize, like, ‘I’m so sorry. I don’t really mean it.’ We’d all giggle because, in the kitchen, what she said is nice. It’s not that we’re mean, but we’re very direct. No one here would ever consider what she said to him to be mean.â€
When The Bear called again for season three, Ever committed to another five days of filming, referencing the script ahead of time to help create the dishes featured in the funeral meal. Staff had heard about culinary guest cameos but didn’t know who confirmed; ultimately, the finale featured Alinea’s Grant Achatz, the Boka Group’s Kevin Boehm, Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi, Elske’s Anna Posey, Noma pastry chef turned taqueria owner Rosio Sanchez, molecular-gastronomy pioneer Wylie Dufresne, former Eleven Madison Park GM Will Guidara, Kasama’s Genie Kwon, and legendary pastry chef Malcolm Livingston II.
“It felt like a family reunion,†says Duffy. “We’ve all known each other for so many years but we never get to see each other, so to have all these giants in the same room at the same time felt special. It was hard to keep people from talking during takes because that’s all everybody wanted to do.â€
While it’s too soon to say how Ever’s appearance in season three will impact the restaurant, Muser says it has experienced a small uptick in culinary tourism following season two. Though diners need a reservation to eat at Ever, anyone can walk into After, which is next door and serves both cocktails and what Muser calls “more casual-style Curtis Duffy cuisine†like duck wings. “That place has definitely seen an influx of people wanting to get close to The Bear,†Muser says. “If you’re in the bar and we’re able, we’ll happily take you in and show you where Richie polishes forks or where the expo spots are.â€
And if you have the means and time to eat at Ever, you can expect a bit of a Bear-like experience, albeit one conforming to Duffy’s vision. “I think The Bear nailed the vibe of our restaurant about 90 percent,†Duffy says. “It’s a TV show and it’s meant to be dramatized, so we don’t operate on a level where people are moving and bustling and hustling at the speed you see. But it is a very quiet atmosphere and very direct and demanding.â€