The Bear's Hollywood Premiere Featured Two Chicago Restaurants

When The bear Needing to source seafood for their star-studded Fishes episode, they turned to Publican Quality Meats Rob Levitt.

Levitt, who had a small on-screen role in Season 2, says show reps asked him how to properly cook lobster. He ended up laundering them without knowing what they would be used for until he watched the award-winning episode. And then I see Jamie Lee Curtis cooking the lobsters that I cooked, Levitt said. Curtis would win a Emmy for her role.

While Season 3 premieres live at 8 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, June 26 on Hulu, a contingent of Chicago's restaurant community came to town for Hollywood's official premiere party. The bear at the El Capitan Theater. Publican Quality Meats Levitt and unique hospitality groups Donnie Madia and Loaf Lounges Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader, Ben Lustbader and Cristina Gandarilla. Madia appeared in Season 2 in a scene filmed at Avec in West Loop, while Mispagel-Lustbader worked on Season 1 and created a chocolate cake for the series, inspired by Portillos. These were the only two Chicago businesses represented in the lineup.

Others included Pizzeria BlancoChris Bianco's famous pizzeria located in Arizona and Los Angeles; Night + MarketLos Angeles' famous Thai street food specialist; and Dave Beran of Parsley, a French restaurant in Santa Monica. Beran began his career in Chicago, working at Mk the Restaurant, Tru and Alinea.

Loaf Lounge Celebrates Season 3 Premiere With Free Slices of Cake at 9 a.m. Thursday June 27. Mispagel-Lustbader says she has stayed in touch with actor Lionel Boyce, who plays the show's pastry chef, Marcus Brooks. The two worked closely together in Season 1 as Mispagel-Lustbader shared their dessert prowess: Lionel came to greet us right away and was very nice as always! Texts Mispagel-Lustbader. He went to the Loaf Lounge and was really great every time we talked and worked together.

The show's producers, including Park Ridge native Courtney Storer, a food consultant on the series, and her creator brother Christopher Storer relied on Chicago restaurants to ensure the show's authenticity. They returned the favor at the premiere and created an amusement park-like atmosphere with booths built to look like Publican Quality Meats and other restaurants. Levitt was blown away by the fact that the teams had somehow built a butcher shop simply based on emails and photos: It was beautiful, he says.

Levitt and Publican Quality Meats sous chef Kyle Huff served Italian sausage with pickled peppers. They shipped the meat to Los Angeles early because they wanted to make the sausages. They also made a PQM mortadella crostini. Levitt says Matty Matheson, who plays Neil Fak on the show, complimented him on the latter.

Courtesy of Loaf Lounge

Loaf Lounge has partnered with a local Los Angeles baker, Nicole is making cakes, who created the signature chocolate cake for the party. Loaf Lounge also served ruby ​​cookies. Rapper Tyler, the Creator was a fan: I think he had about six of them and he was very expressive about how much he enjoyed them! Texts Mispagel-Lustbader.

Another highlight came from actress Gillian Jacobs, who plays Tiffany Jerimovich, ex-wife of Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Richie Jerimovich. The former Community The star was curious about the operation and asked Levitt questions about PQM methods, showing genuine enthusiasm.

In addition to Fishes' seafood, Levitt also cut most of the steaks used in Season 2. The production team had specific requests, including dry-aged beef. Apparently the show bought a ton of stuff from Publican, including guanciale. Levitt's favorite request was where to get duck prosciutto. He decided to do it himself. These details make the difference: It wasn't just a prop or an afterthought, Levitt says. The meat is treated more like a character.

When Levitt comes home, Publican Quality Meats is celebrating the premiere with an Italian beef special from Thursday, June 27 through Saturday, June 29. The beef is made with top round and uses a French bread baked by Greg Wade, the James Beard-award winning baker at Publican Quality Bread. Caruso provisions provide the giardiniera.

Mispagel-Lustbader talks about a renewed enthusiasm for the cake at home and says she was proud to represent Chicago on the West Coast: I think a lot of our regulars feel a sense of pride that their neighborhood restaurant was able to shine in Los Angeles for a while. at night, she sends a message. I think we made some new friends on the West Coast too.