Chicago's Only Food Tour Based On 'The Bear' Offers A Mouth-Watering Day Of Luxury

With its live performance venues, museums, fun family activities, and more, Chicago has long been a major tourist attraction. However, FX's popular show "The Bear" has likely made potential visitors give some extra thought to Chicago's culinary scene. Awards shows might controversially classify "The Bear" within the Musical or Comedy category, but the series definitely shows that the culinary arts must be respected. If you're serious about food and want to follow the culinary travel trend and plan a foodie vacation, you'll want to check out the only Chicago food tour based on "The Bear."

The restaurants in "The Bear" are fictional, but the tour  — aptly titled "Yes, Chef Chicago: A Bear-Inspired Food Tour" — can take you to the places that inspired key aspects of the show. Theresa Nemetz, owner of Chicago Food and City Tours, created this tour because she is a fan of "The Bear" and wanted to combine the show's inspirations with Chicago's very real fine dining locales. What makes this tour even better is that as you enjoy culinary delights and filming locations for "The Bear," you'll also be doing some sightseeing and scoping out fun things to add to your Chicago bucket list. 

On "Yes Chef Chicago: A Bear-Inspired Food Tour," you'll visit the family-owned Mr. Beef. Fans of "The Bear" will quickly connect this restaurant name with The Original Beef of Chicagoland, which is the slightly run-down sandwich shop that protagonist Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto begins managing in "The Bear." The food and decor closely resemble its fictional counterpart. Ironically, Mr. Beef's owner Chris Zucchero balks at the idea of culinary awards and fine dining, according to Eater Chicago. Even still, Mr. Beef's overwhelmingly positive online reviews speak for themselves. 

Mr. Beef is less than 2 miles from the iconic Navy Pier in Chicago's River North neighborhood. The trendy streets in this part of town are teeming with nightlife, art galleries, and historic buildings like the Richard H. Driehaus Museum. As the food tour moves through highlights of this neighborhood's celebrated dining experiences, keep your eye out for things you might want to do and see around River North later on your trip.

Explore more of the Midwest's top dining destinations as the "Yes Chef Chicago: A Bear-Inspired Food Tour" continues in West Loop. Swanky fine dining restaurants in this neighborhood cover all types of cuisine. You'll find steakhouses, the only Nobu in the Midwest, and Ever. This is another restaurant name that "The Bear" fans will recognize and it also served as a prime filming location for the fictional restaurant from the memorable "Forks" episode in Season 2 of the show.

This food tour culminates with an amazing dessert at Margie's Candies in Logan Square, a section of the city with a food scene forged by eclectic restauranteurs decades ago. Margie's Candies has been around since 1921, and its desserts range from ice cream to assorted bite-sized chocolates. Treating yourself to sweets under Margie's huge neon sign is the perfect end to a tour offering a diverse sampler platter of Chicago's culinary endeavors — but without the stress that the characters of "The Bear" seem to always experience.