The Bear Fuels Massive Demand for Italian Beef Sandwiches

Yes, chef! Thanks to FX's The Bear, demand for Italian beef sandwiches has skyrocketed, according to an article in the New York Times.

The Bear stars Jeremy Allen White as a Michelin-star chef who returns home to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop, The Original Beef of Chicagoland. The series centers on Carmy's (White) efforts to keep the restaurant afloat — as told through many close-ups of juicy beef.

According to the NYT, Gino's East of Chicago in Los Angeles sold 300 Italian beef sandwiches per day last month, up from 150 in June. Several other sandwich shops around the country have seen a rise in demand, too.

The Pizza Man, a mom-and-pop Chicago restaurant outside Kansas City, Kansas has sold five to six times as many Italian beef sandwiches as it did in June. Dog Day Afternoon, a Chicago Italian beef and hot dog restaurant in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn has seen at least a 50% increase in orders of hot Italian beef sandwiches since the show came out. And Goldbelly, an e-commerce company delivering specialty dishes from restaurants around the country, has seen a 30% increase in sales of Italian beef sandwiches since the show's premiere.

According to Google Trends, search interest in the sandwich has nearly doubled since The Bear's release on Hulu on June 23.

For true Chicagoans, the NYT reports, the sandwich is simple enough — it's made up of thinly sliced roast beef and hot giardiniera on a Turano Baking Company French roll (roasted peppers are optional). Then, the sandwich is "dipped, dunked, or baptized" in beef juices, explains Henry Tibensky, a native Chicagoan and the founder and chef of Hank's Juicy Beef, a Chicago hot dog and sandwich pop-up in New York City.

The Bear is currently available to stream on Hulu.

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Deena ElGenaidi's writing has been featured in Nylon, MTV News, Insider, The AV Club, and more. You can follow her on Twitter @deenaelg.