Allen's portrayal of Chef Berzatto has been described as "a realistic casting of
that asshole" common to high-intensity kitchens, although "
The Bear suggests that Carmy's going to be a different kind of leader, one who's learned from his own experience and wants to change the narrative instead of perpetuating it."
Daniel Patterson, a chef who worked with series creator Storer on a documentary before quitting to make sandwiches, surmised that Carmy's iconic look was intended to be, ultimately, deconstructed: "...for the real-life cooks watching the show who see Carmywith his perpetual grimace, rock-star hair, and cigarette dangling from his pouty lipsand feel like they've had it with the
Marco Pierre White bullshit, I get it. We've all seen it before. The sexy dirty chain-smoking rebel cook is both a cipher for bad-boy fantasies and apologia for white-boy bad behavior."
Aesthetics and sex appeal In regard to the "bad-boy fantasies," the character of Carmy provoked an
ode in
Bon Appétit magazine to what is apparently a food-service industry
stock character, "Sexually Competent Dirtbag Line Cook," about which it was written: Carm has been identified as the textbook model of a restaurant-kitchen resident
lothario: "'This man does not have curtains in his apartment but he has a $1400
knife that is only for cutting fish.'" (Carmy's apartment is scantly furnished with thrift-store pieces, and his home decor consists primarily of scores of
cookbooks from multiple eras and regions of the world. One "particular screengrab" from the trailer engendered much online commentary about the sex appeal of sweaty season-one Carmy; the key screengrab and associated
tweet was later resurfaced for further comment on a
late-night talk show. The visual seemed to surface, for some, an association with White's previous character, the not-untroubled fellow Chicagoan Lip Gallagher, as well as: Per
Salon.com, Carmy's dirtbag subcategory would be "
heroic," in company with
Cassian Andor of the
Star Wars universe, as Carmy solved "a riddle left by his brother. And in doing so, he saved the jobs of his employees and their futures."
MEL magazine commented "Carmy might not be the guy these women are projecting onto him, but admittedly, there's something hot about a man who is trying to get his shit together, too." One critic quipped that the subject matter of the series was "sandwiches and trauma and Jeremy Allen White's biceps." A review of season one commended White's "pretty remarkable performance" but found his Carmy "oddly buff for a dude who runs a
greasy spoon." One restaurant veteran argued otherwise, stating that "You might notice that Carmen really doesn't eat much, often declining family meal and scarfing down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some chips and a soda after a long shift, and that's honestly pretty accurate. The insane stress of the kitchen can do a number on your stomach...and often chefs only pick at bits of food here and there to taste-test but otherwise don't eat for long stretches." (
GQ UK reverse-engineered chef's likely workout and diet regimen, should you care duplicate it.) A critique of season four by
Time magazine critic Judy Berman commented that, "The camera lingers for too long on his pained,
Grecian-bust features. His every line is freighted with meaning. White does as great a job as is probably possible of making this overly aestheticized
archetype into a believable human being."
Home Carmy has an apartment somewhere in Chicago, possibly in the
West Loop or
Wicker Park. In season one, Carmy stores his denim collection in his unused home oven, maximizing space in a city apartment and emphasizing that the hearth at his home is cold, because his life is based around working in restaurant kitchens. As depicted in seasons one and two, particularly, Carmy's apartment "is an impersonal space where he spends little time. Unlike the restaurant where his most significant professional and personal relationships unfold, his flat is a space that is rarely explored." In 2018 or earlier (as seen on a phone list in "
Fishes"), both Mikey and Carmy had phone numbers with a
913 area code. As of 2023, his phone number is
773-
555-0901; he initially gives Claire the number 773-555-0902.
Hair and costuming A photo of London chef Marco Pierre White on the cover of
The Devil in the Kitchen inspired Carmy's hairstyle in season one. The look is understated to the point of being simple, but still evocative: "Looking closer at the details, this is a very well-fitting tee, hitting at a nice point on the bicep as well as a nice flattering point at the waistline where they should. The other thing is care. It is hardly ever stained. It takes a skilled chef to be able to always wear white tees, not stained." At the restaurant he wears mostly
Carhartt "Work In Progress" pants and sometimes
Dickies work pants. His restaurant work shoes are
Birkenstock's Tokio design, a chef standard. According to
Courtney Wheeler, costume designer for
The Bear, "Carmy is very classic, very well-worn, but great quality and perfectly cut. Carmy approaches each piece in a considered way when he buys it, so later he doesn't have to think about what he's wearing at all." On another occasion she said, "Carmy is a creature of habit and detail, as most chefs are. He doesn't waste time thinking about what he throws on in the morning, but he cares about fit, quality, and timelessness of his clothes...He has his uniform, and he's confident in it." Unlike other key characters, time-obsessed Carmy does not wear a watch, in part, according to Laura Roeper,
prop master, because per creator Storer, "He would never go to a store and buy something [like that] for himself."
Scars and tattoos Carmy has at least two visible scars that have drawn comment from other characters: one on the inside of his left bicep, and one on the palm of his right hand. Chef Fields mocks his "cool scars" in episode 2, "
Hands." Carmy has nine tattoos that have been revealed thus far. Tattoos are common among the "creative and rebellious" chefs who staff American restaurants. White said in 2022 that the tattoos were "for Carmy...sort of an armor, and I don't think he felt that tough all the time, and that got him here." •
SOU tattoo, on the fingers of his left hand just above his knuckles; SOU is pronounced like the beginning of
soup or
sous-chef, but stands for "sense of urgency," which is a catchphrase used in Thomas Keller restaurant kitchens. (
The Bear creator
Christopher Storer directed a
documentary on Keller called
Sense of Urgency.) • Flower tattoo on his left hand White filmed shirtless scenes with Molly Gordon in season two that would have revealed the existence of the snake tattoo, but those scenes did not appear in the released version of season two. Unlike his older brother Mikey, Carmy himself has "no
stereotypically Italian American features[he is]
blond,
blue-eyed, with a constant astonished expression on his face, his attractiveness deriving from boyish appearance, barely counterbalanced by numerous tattoos and tight muscles." The Berzattos have a
Roman Catholic religious background. The family celebrates the
Feast of the Seven Fishes; Carmy and his siblings sometimes make a ritual appeal to Our Mother of Victory, an embodiment of the
Virgin Mary.
Smoking Carmy was a compulsive
cigarette smoker for most of his adult life and into the first two seasons of the show. His cousin Stevie described Carmy as smelling, generally, like "
pledge week at a
Sicilian fraternity...sweat, death, lemons, garlic...oh, and the
most cigarettes." Carmy quit smoking in episode one of season three, "
Tomorrow," seemingly newly disgusted by the sight of a stub-filled ashtray left in the restaurant overnight (but in actuality mostly disgusted with himself). He told Chi-Chi (
Christopher Zucchero) that he was doing it to save the five minutes it takes to smoke, and he told Sydney he still thought about it, but "only every 10 seconds." The gum regimen and Carmy's determination to clean up his act seemingly worked to break the long-held habit, but he picked it up again in the season-four finale, "
Goodbye," when novice Sydney, feeling "abandoned and enraged," inexplicably took up smoking, apparently driven by a combination of spite and nostalgia. Carmy resentfully joined her, lighting her up and later feeding her lit cigarettes while he continued to verbally deconstruct his relationship with Richie. == See also ==