Carmen Anthony "Carmy" Berzatto is the main protagonist of the comedy drama series The Bear. He is portrayed by Jeremy Allen White.
A Chicago native and award-winning chef, Carmy leaves the world of fine dining to take control of his family's restaurant, following the suicide of his older brother Mikey. While his efforts to revitalize the restaurant are largely successful, he ultimately closes down the restaurant in favor of opening a new one.
Background[]
The youngest of three children, Carmy grew up in the River North neighborhood of Chicago with his parents, two siblings, and an extensive network of family, many in somewhat shady businesses. His parents had a rocky relationship, due to his father's lack of interest and his mother's mental health issues. He and his siblings grew up fast in their emotionally abusive and chaotic household and held a strong bond.
Carmy was a quiet and awkward child with a stutter who did not fit in. As the baby of the family, he was reliant on his boisterous and charismatic older brother, Michael, for much of his emotional and social support. Cooking was an activity they shared together, which Carmy greatly enjoyed. The pair dreamed of opening a restaurant together once they grew up, which they planned to name "The Bear".
When his older brother, Mikey, took over running The Original Beef of Chicagoland, a family restaurant which had been opened from their father, Carmy wanted to work there but his brother refused. Because of this, Carmy decided to rebel and prove his brother wrong by becoming the best chef possible. He went to culinary school in Paris and staged in Copenhagen before moving to New York where he eventually worked his way up to sous chef at a three Michelin star restaurant. In the process, he found out he was truly gifted and had found his place in world. His meteoric rise to stardom has lead to him slowly evolving past his awkward childhood self and come into his own. While away he lost touch with Mikey and their sister Natalie, instead focusing on his growing career.
He eventually won the best up and coming chef award at the age of 21, and began gaining recognition for his dedication to his work. Deeply artistic, he has a rare and natural genius for his chosen field, resulting in his global recognition and fame at a young age, including credit for retaining his restaurant's three stars.
But this all came to a halt when he heard that Mikey had committed suicide and left him the restaurant in his will. This blow leaves Carmy unmoored and undoes much of his progress. Carmy packed up and left New York to run his brothers restaurant, and reconnect with his remaining family.
Personality[]
Carmen is a quiet, observant, and focused person. He feels things deeply, but has difficulty expressing himself and understanding his emotions, leading him to instead stay quiet and come across as awkward. He feels trapped and frustrated when he can't explain or express himself to his satisfaction. He has high anxiety, which makes him physically ill and disoriented when it peaks. Cooking and the routine, control, and expression of it, calms him down.
Cooking and his family are just about the only things he has in his life. He works in the kitchen all day only to come home to a nearly bare apartment and watch cooking shows. When asked what he does for fun or what he enjoys, Carmy is unable to think of anything, not even cooking. Carmy admits that he is very guarded about finding enjoyment in anything, because he always expects it to be ruined.
Carmy insists on an atmosphere of respect in his kitchen and prefers intense calm and professional efficiency. He generally does not tolerate staff spats or emotional outbursts. Unlike his own experience learning in the greatest restaurant kitchens in the world, Carmy is careful not to engage in the aggressive and verbally abusive tactic common in those environments. Instead, Carmy is quietly supportive and encouraging of his crew, and freely shares his skills and techniques.
When overwhelmed, he tends to withdraw and grow quiet as his anxiety ratchets up to alarming degrees. But even this quiet and somewhat shy man has his breaking point, and when he reaches it, Carmy will explode larger and louder than imaginable.
Outside of the kitchen, Carmy is not intellectually inclined, having barely graduated high school. He dislikes and does not comprehend many of the business-side aspects of owning a restaurant. His tendency is to dump administrative and managerial duties on Richie or Sydney to focus on his craft. He often finds himself on alien soil when needing to deal with emotional family or friends.
Carmy is aware of shortcomings when it comes to feelings and personal interactions. Through therapy via Al-anon meetings, he has been conscientiously trying to remember to ask how people are and be more sensitive to their feelings, as well as working on re-finding the ability to enjoy things.
Physical Description[]
Carmy is a young man with white skin and blue eyes. He has wavy, golden brown hair that he keeps at a medium length. He is commented on several times for his short stature though he makes up for it with a muscular build. He is always dressed for work, in casual clothing and aprons.
Throughout the Series[]
Season 1[]
Carmy is a James Beard Award-winning chef who returns to his hometown of Chicago in the summer of 2022 to manage The Original Beef of Chicagoland, a restaurant owned by his recently deceased brother, Michael. However, Carmy faces resistance from the stubborn staff and his brother's best friend, Richie, who are reluctant to accept his proposed changes to modernize the restaurant.
Carmy faces significant challenges in taking over The Beef. It is difficult for Carmy to adjust down to the level of the humble sandwich shop. The unprofessional and chaotic staff have known him since childhood and have no respect for his accomplishments, Carmy blows budget they can't afford on premium ingredients, and Carmy is used to well-established kitchens not in need of major process and environment overhauls. Carmy is discovering that, while he can make excellent food at the highest level, he lacks other vital skills, like teaching and bookkeeping, essential to saving The Beef. Carmy also learns the hard way that many of the methods which worked in other restaurants, will not work in The Beef's neighborhood, such as when he tries to bring in customers via social media, and instead creates a mob the small restaurant cannot handle.
Carmy hires Sydney Adamu, a chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America and a Chicago native, as a part time stage. Carmy experienced verbal abuse from his boss while working at a fine dining restaurant in New York City in a flashback. In the present, Carmy tries to overhaul the menu, but the staff members continue to resist and fail to show him respect. The restaurant's poor management is revealed when a health inspector discovers multiple safety and sanitation issues, resulting in a low C rating. Carmy also learns that his brother was deeply in debt to their uncle, Cicero, for $300,000. Despite Cicero's offer to buy the restaurant, Carmy refuses and agrees to repay his brother's loan.
Sydney, who wants to come on as a full time sous chef, comes to Carmy with a business proposal, which makes him realize he can utilize her business acumen, an area he is severely lacking in himself. At his sister's prompting, Carmy begins to attend Al-Anon meetings to understand his brother's struggles with addiction better and work on his own mental health and grief.
Carmy tells Sydney he wants to reorganize the kitchen staff as a formal Escoffier kitchen brigade and retrain them to a high level of cleanliness and professionalism. He appoints her as the sous-chef. Carmy ends up leaving during the implementation to attend an Al-Anon meeting. Without Carmy's support, she feels abandoned and drowning as she tries to accomplish it. Sydney rises to the challenges and raises her concerns to Carmy, who recognizes his poor actions and lack of support.
To work off part of their debt to uncle Cicero, Carmy and Richie cater a children's birthday party for him, where a mishap occurs when homemade Ecto cooler spiked with Richie's Xanax causes the children to pass out. Surprisingly, Cicero finds the incident humorous.
As the staff starts to connect with their new roles, particularly Marcus, the passionate baker, Carmy and Sydney decide to create a new dinner menu to increase profits. This leads to further conflicts when Carmy rejects a risotto dish of hers, telling her it's not ready. Sydney ends up serving the risotto to a customer, who turns out to be a food critic that writes a glowing review about the risotto.
Carmy has a screaming breakdown when the combination of the review and Sydney accidentally leaving the preorder option on of their online ordering system results in a chaotic catastrophe and the restaurant receiving hundreds and hundreds of orders they cannot fill. Sydney and Marcus quit, and Carmy regrets his loss of control.
Carmy attends another Al-Anon meeting, where he shares his strained relationship with his brother and his desire to work at The Beef.
The restaurant hosts a bachelor party for some associates of Uncle Cicero to help pay back some of their debt. A fight breaks out, resulting in Richie's arrest, and Carmy uses the restaurant's emergency funds to bail him out. Carmy apologizes for his behavior during the online ordering catastrophe. Marcus returns to work, but Sydney is still unsure. Dissociating from stress and exhaustion, Carmy accidentally starts a stove fire but takes no action, leaving the other chefs to extinguish it. Carmy apologies to Sydney who later returns. Richie gives Carmy a letter left by Michael, which includes a spaghetti recipe with a note suggesting the use of smaller cans of tomatoes. When Carmy opens one of the cans, he finds hidden hundred-dollar bills. As the chefs open all the cans, they discover more and more hidden money, hundreds of thousands of it.
Carmy decides to close The Beef and open a new restaurant called The Bear, announcing the closure with a sign.
Season 2[]
Carmy is developing a menu for The Bear restaurant with Sydney. They bring in Natalie as a project manager and secure a loan from Cicero for an additional $500,000, with the condition to repay it in 18 months or lose the property. They plan to open in three months. Construction issues, including mold, arise, and Sydney's father expresses concerns. Sydney becomes the chef de cuisine, hires Tina as her sous-chef, and sends Tina and Ebra to culinary school. Carmy reconnects with a girl named Claire.
Carmy attends Al-Anon meetings and struggles to find enjoyment. Developing the menu is challenging due to their broken palates. Carmy suggests they go on a palate cleanser, but ends up flaking out to help Claire move furniture for her mom. Sydney visits multiple restaurants alone and returns to The Bear at the end of the day, upset upon learning that Carmy has been making decisions without consulting her after he missed out on the palate cleanser. Two months before opening, Natalie reveals to Carmy that she is pregnant. Carmy spends time with Claire, realizes she brings him fun, and they share their first kiss.
In a flashback, five years before opening, Carmy returns for Christmas, where tensions rise. Richie undergoes a transformative experience at an upscale restaurant. Ten days before opening, Carmy and Sydney struggle to pass a fire suppression test. Ebra returns, Marcus presents desserts, and tensions arise between Sydney and Carmy over his lack of focus. He apologizes and vows to do better. The Bear opens for a soft launch, with Carmy forgetting important tasks. Richie manages front-of-house issues while Sydney runs expo. Carmy gets trapped in the fridge, and tensions escalate. The team rallies together for the opening sans Carmy. Carmy is regretful about missing out on opening night and sees getting trapped in the fridge as a sign that he should not have enjoyment or be in a relationship.
Season 3[]
The Bear opens with Carmy instantly colliding with Richie as a power struggle between the cousins plays out. Neither one can get over what was said during the freezer incident. Things get worse with Carmy's non-negotiables and daily menu changes causing trouble in the kitchen. The more the restaurant struggles to bring in more revenue the more Carmy becomes obsessed, anxious, and compulsive for perfection. He lets his relationship with Claire fall apart, believing he shouldn't have anything outside The Bear.
Relationships[]
Mikey[]
Carmy's older brother. Growing up, Carmy viewed his older brother as a best friend, protector, and mentor all in one. Cooking was an activity they shared together, and the two dreamed of opening a restaurant together. Carmy is deeply hurt and doesn't understand when Michael bars him from joining him in running the family restaurant. This rejection is the drive behind Carmy's successful career as a chef.
Carmy was unaware of his brother's drug use and his feelings of grief and confusion over Michael's suicide is a major plot drive of the show.
Richie[]
Richie was Carmy's older brother, Mikey's, best friend. While not as close to him as Michael was, Carmy grew up with Richie in and out of his home as a kid, and they view each other as family. They often argue a lot in different aspects but, always comes through for each other in time needed, like brothers.
Sugar[]
Carmy's supportive older sister. She babies him like a second mother, and is the one who pushes him to go to therapy and get help with his mental and social issues.
Sydney[]
Sydney and Carmy are friends and partners in the new restaurant ’The Bear.' They have a great friendship and tease each other often. Carmy opened up to Sydney about his brother being an addict. Sydney responded with a joke which made Carmy laugh. Sydney appeared to be appreciative of his accomplishments when they first meet in episode 1. Their friendship went through significant turmoil over the first season, mainly due to an increasingly stressful work environment, and their disagreements on how best to improve the restaurant. In Review, Carmy unleashes a particularly rude outburst on her and Marcus, causing Sydney to quit the restaurant, admitting that while he was a "great chef", he was also a "piece of s**t". The two ultimately reconcile after Carmy apologizes to her in the finale, and Sydney returns. At the end of the season, Carmy proposes a business partnership. Sydney gladly accepts.
Sydney and Carmy become much better friends during the second season as they prepare for the opening of the new restaurant in three months and work on the menu together. Despite this, they occasionally clash over their differences in opinion and Carmy's divided attention, the latter of which is exacerbated by his new relationship with Claire. Sydney is upset when he flakes out on the palate cleanser he suggested they do together, doesn't consult her when they knocked down the walls of The Beef, and gains input from Claire on the menu they were supposed to be working on together. He also does not call the fridge guy to fix the walk-in, despite multiple reminders. She asks for more of his focus, and he agrees.
Despite their differences, the two are always able to reconcile whenever they clash by making use of a special hand sign that means "I'm sorry", which instantly diffuses any argument they are having. Over the course of the season, they learn much more about each other's pasts, fears, insecurities, and ambitions. In Omlette, the two chefs talk while fixing a table, and Sydney confides in him about her fears that she will mess up on their opening night, but Carmy tells her that he will "not let [her]". They admit to each other they wouldn't want to do it [the restaurant] without the other and that they make each other better at this. He then gifts her with a custom-made Thom Browne chef's uniform with her initials on it (remembering when Sydney stated she would love to have one in a conversation they had near the beginning of the season) and assures her that she is "not alone", to which Sydney responds, "Neither are you." Sydney runs the expo on Friends and Family opening night. Carmy defends her from Marcus after the latter yells at her and encourages her to "just keep going'. She mentions feeling swamped at the expo and asks Carmy if he wants to switch. Carmy assures her she is doing fine. As things become more hectic over the course of the night, he ends up angrily yelling at her over cold fishes, but she is able the calm him down and they apologize to each other. With a successful opening night, and although Carmy got stuck in the walk-in, the two of them presumably end the season on reasonably good terms.
Claire[]
Carmy and Claire date each other in Season 2. They were childhood friends who grew up together and whose their families were very close. Claire also had a crush on Carmy since they were kids, although Carmy was unaware of this as they were not close. After many years, they run into each other at the store in Beef. Claire is now an ER doctor in residency. Carmy is surprised to learn that she still remembered the name of his restaurant from when he told her as a kid. Despite enjoying the conversation with her, however, when she asks for his number, he intentionally gives her the wrong one. Despite this, Claire finds a way to reach Carmy's phone via Fak, and accuses him of giving her a fake number, which he denies. When she asks him if he can help her move furniture for her mom, he agrees, despite having already made plans with Sydney. Later, Claire invites Carmy to his first-ever college party, where he overhears her say that none of her boyfriends have ever made her dinner. At the end of the night, Claire once again asks Carmy why he gave her a fake number. Carmy instead responds with 'I like you so much.' After the party, the two of them head over to the restaurant, and after Carmy orders everyone to go home, the two of them share a kiss.
The two of them enter an intimate relationship. Despite now being in an intimate relationship, Carmy remains hesitant to refer to Claire as his "girlfriend", referring to her instead as his "girl who's a friend". Carmy enjoys spending time with Claire and, through talking with her, gains inspiration to implement a 'chaos menu' and to bring back cannoli. After the restaurant passes the fire suppression test, he calls Claire and celebrates by making her dinner.  Later, on the 'Friends and Family' opening night of The Bear, he invites Claire, and greets her while serving her wine, Later, however, when he gets stuck in the walk-in fridge, she accidentally hears him express regret over the fact that he is in a relationship because it led to too many distractions. She tells him she's sorry he feels that way and walks away in tears, presumably breaking up with him. Carmy later listens to a voicemail Claire left him prior to opening where she tells him she loves him. He immediately drops his phone, regretful and unable to bear the admission with the culmination of the entire night.
Marcus[]
Marcus and Carmy are good friends and co-workers. Upon first joining The Beef, Marcus, along with everyone else at the restaurant, was skeptical of Carmy and the changes he brought to the kitchen. Despite this, Carmy would soon win Marcus over due to the former's cooking expertise by offering a suggestion on how to increase the softness of his bread buns, which was successful. Later, Marcus became inspired to improve on his baking after stumbling upon Carmy's old cookbooks. This resulted in the two bonding further over their shared passion for baking, with Carmy happily offering advice to Marcus and sharing his past experiences as a chef. In one episode, while Carmy was away, the kitchen experienced a power outage, forcing everyone to move outside to serve food. When Carmy returned, a guilty Marcus confessed to him that he was the reason for the outage and vowed that he would never make a mistake again. Rather than chastising him, however, Carmy consoled him and told him that it was normal to make mistakes, and invited him to come back to work. Unfortunately, their relationship would take a turn for the worse when, during a particularly hectic morning, Marcus decides to work on his special doughnut rather than keeping up with his orders, and offers an already furious Carmy to try it. Realizing that Marcus had not been working, an outraged Carmy immediately yelled at him, smacked Marcus' doughnut to the floor, and ordered him to get back to work. Heartbroken and shocked, Marcus chose to leave the kitchen in the middle of the shift rather than help. Despite being angry at Carmy, Marcus decides to return to work where he encounters Carmy, who expresses sincere remorse for his actions and apologizes, which Marcus accepts.
Marcus and Carmy return to being on good terms in the second season, helping him, along with everyone else. In preparation for the opening of The Bear, Carmy sends him to Copenhagen in order to improve his baking skills in preparation for opening night. Upon return, Marcus unveils one of the deserts he learned to make - a Copenhagen Sundae - which Carmy tries and compliments him for. He later unveils four new desserts for the menu to Carmy and Sydney, including the doughnut he worked on during the last season that Carmy smacked away. Humorously, Marcus humorously reveals that the desert is called 'Sydney's Doughnut (before Carmy destroyed like a little b****)'. Although he understands that it's a joke, Carmy nonetheless humorously replies that he still feels bad about the incident, which Marcus appreciates. He proceeds to unveil the final dessert, 'The Michael', named after Carmy's late brother, which Carmy deeply appreciates. Later, on the opening of the restaurant, when Marcus snaps at Sydney for ignoring him, Carmy intervenes and sends Marcus back to his station to cool off. Marcus also attempts to free Carmy from the walk-in fridge after he gets stuck in it, to no avail. The two presumably end the season on good terms.
Tina[]
Carmy and Tina are co-workers and good friends. Upon Carmy first joining the Beef, the existing members of the staff mainly showed skepticism towards him due to the changes he planned to implement to the kitchen. She also jokingly began referring him with the nickname "Jeff" which sounds like "chef". While she, along with almost everyone else, initially Carmy him as an outsider did not respect his authority, she warmed up to him over time as she got more used to the new system.
In the second season, the two of them continue to have a positive work relationship, with Carmy gifting Tina with his kitchen knife before she went to culinary school, which Tina greatly enjoys. At the end of the season, before the opening night of the Bear, Tina asks Carmy if he would like it back, to which Carmy responds that he did not remember ever asking her for it back. Later, after successfully serving the customers, Tina talks to Carmy through the walk-in door as he is stuck in there, and while he spirals and expresses his shame to her, she assures him that everything is going fine in the kitchen, and that he did not fail them. Carmy also felt comfortable enough to confide in her his feelings concerning his relationship with Claire, although Tina would not hear this part.
Fak[]
Carmy and Fak are co-workers and, apparently, best friends. Their families are close and they have known each other for a long time.
Quotes[]
- "I call everyone chef because it is a sign of respect." - Carmen in "System"
- "Your brain does this weird thing where it just bypasses any sense of joy. It just like attaches itself to dread." - Carmen in "Pasta"
Trivia[]
- Carmy had a stutter when he was young.
- Carmen worked at Daniel (restaurant), Noma, Ever and The French Laundry.
- When working in New York, Carmen would puke every day before going to work.
- This could be attributed to the ulcers he had suffered from, especially from being around his abusive head chef.
- It is possible that Carmy suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), given the abuse he had suffered from his head chef in New York, as well as his grief following the loss of Michael.
- Evidence of this is that he often has flashbacks of these events.
- He never had a girlfriend before Claire.
- Carmy has a collection of vintage denim and keeps some of it in his oven.
- He used to work alongside Luca at Noma restaurant in Copenhagen.
- Jeremy Allen White won Best Actor in a Comedy Series at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice for his portrayed of Carmen Berzatto in 2022.
- Carmen was at one time a common name for Italian-American men, particularly in Chicago. Remnants of this can be seen in several businesses across the city, including (relevantly) Carm’s Beef.
- The correct spelling of the Italian name (the Berzatto are Italian-Americans) is Carmine, which may sound similar to Carmen in English.
- Carmen's middle name is "Anthony" which we find out in 'Fishes' when his mom calls him by his full name.
Gallery[]
