The Bear Season 3 Chef Cameos, Explained

Adam Shapiro

Appears in: multiple episodes

Shapiro wears many hats in his career as an actor and pretzelmaker (including making pretzels at the Oscars last year). In The Bear, he appears as a manager for the fictional fine-dining restaurant Ever, working with chef Terry (Olivia Colman). He attempts to poach Sydney from The Bear.

The Closing Dinner

In the season finale, Ever hosts a final dinner before it closes its doors. That dinner brings together a star-studded group of chefs and restaurateurs alongside Carmy and Sydney. This culinary cohort opines on Ever’s (fictional) past and the (real life) future of the industry.

Grant Achatz

Achatz operates Alinea in Chicago. Once the sous chef at The French Laundry, Achatz today focuses on molecular gastronomy with Alinea’s multi-course tasting menu. He has also spent time at Charlie Trotter’s and Trio, both in the Chicago area. In the season finale, he has a long conversation with pastry chef Luca (Will Poulter) about Achatz’s more unusual culinary creations.

Wylie Dufresne

Dufresne started his career working for Jean-Georges Vongeritchen, becoming sous chef at Jean Georges. He’s best known for his now-closed restaurant WD-50 in Manhattan, and his restaurants have been awarded accolades from the James Beard Foundation, New York Magazine, and Food & Wine. These days, he’s the owner of New York City’s Stretch Pizza, where he blends classic pizzas with inventive and New York-inspired flavors.

Christina Tosi

Created the dessert program at David Chang’s Momofuku, then founded bakery chain Milk Bar in 2008. Her cereal milk-flavored sweets arguably define her pastry career, but in The Bear’s season finale, she regales the gathering of chefs with tales of dishes she made early in her career. (She worked at the now closed WD-50 before joining Chang.)

Kevin Boehm

A former bartender turned restaurateur, Kevin Boehm opened his first restaurant in 1993. Today, his James Beard Award-winning Boka Restaurant Group oversees 22 restaurants across the country. Boehm is also a writer whose memoir, The Bottomless Cup, comes out next year. He co-founded the Independent Restaurant Coalition, a trade group founded during the pandemic to lobby for assistance for restaurants and their employees. In the season finale, Boehm discusses the struggles and stresses of the business with Carmy.

Anna Posey

Another hometown chef, Posey owns Chicago restaurant Elske with her husband David. (We named Elske on our Best New Restaurants list in 2017.) She was also formerly the head pastry chef of The Publican in Chicago.

Rosio Sanchez

The Chicago-born Sanchez worked as the pastry chef at Dufresne’s WD-50 before moving to Copenhagen, where she built her career as the pastry chef at Noma. Today, her restaurants Sanchez and Hija de Sanchez, both in Copenhagen, blend traditional Mexican flavors with Nordic ingredients.

Malcolm Livingston II

Livingston II’s resume essentially lists the world’s best restaurants: Le Cirque, Per Se, WD-50, Noma. But these days, the Bronx-born pastry chef is working on something different—August Novelties, a non-dairy ice cream brand. The Bear creator Christopher Storer says that Livingston’s stint as Noma’s pastry chef inspired the character of Marcus (played by Lionel Boyce).

Will Guidara

The one-time force behind names like Eleven Madison Park and NoMad, with locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. He and his former business partner, Daniel Humm, co-wrote four books—one of which (entitled Unreasonable Hospitality) appears in season two, episode seven. He’s married to fellow cameo-maker Christina Tosi.

Genie Kwon

The pastry chef at Chicago’s two Michelin-starred Oriole restaurant. Kwon has worked in Boston, New York (including at Nobu Fifty Seven and Eleven Madison Park), Singapore, and Chicago. She hails from New Orleans.