was created by Christopher Storer (“Ramy”) and counts renowned Chef Matty Matheson as a co-producer (he also has a small role); Storer’s sister, Courtney Storer, is a chef and serves as culinary producer.
The strong ensemble cast, headed by Jeremy Allen White (Phillip “Lip” Gallagher from “Shameless”) as moody protagonist Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, creates an ego-deflating/inflating atmosphere fraught with tension, exhilaration, dark comedy, casual pettiness and bonding.Our story begins as Carmen, an acclaimed, tattooed, award-winning chef, leaves his high-pressure job and toxic boss in a sterile, world-renowned New York City restaurant and returns to Chicago to take over the family’s chaotic sandwich shop following the suicide of his brother, Michael, who ran the place with his best friend, Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).The Original Beef of Chicagoland is a grungy, beaten-down, grease-stained storefront-part of a local neighborhood with a steady, loyal clientele (thanks in part to its ’80s-era video games).
But it’s thisclose to financial ruin and gets by on a wing and a prayer. When the series opens, Carmen has only been there a short time and is trying, and mostly failing, to establish a semblance of order to his recalcitrant, veteran kitchen staff, who don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for this hoity-toity wannabe intruder into their insular world.
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