"Ceres" is the sixth episode of the first season of the American comedy-drama television series The Bear. It is the sixth overall episode of the series and was written by Catherine Schetina & Rene Gube and directed by Joanna Calo. It was released on Hulu on June 23, 2022, along with the rest of the season.
Sydney develops a risotto meal for an upcoming dinner menu, but Carmy rejects it; Sydney serves it to a customer anyway. Natalie comes to the restaurant to figure out the restaurant's unpaid taxes and she and Carmy search for the missing documents. Marcus continues to work hard on developing donuts but finds himself behind on restaurant work. The restaurant has its windows shot out by stray gunfire, and Richie asks the local gangsters to find out who did it. Later, the gangsters get into a scuffle, which Sydney breaks up by offering them leftovers; Richie feels left out and unneeded because of Sydney's success and calls the police on the gangsters.
Production
The name of the episode is a reference to Ceres Cafe, a cocktail bar in the Board of Trade Building lobby, and the statue of the Roman goddess of agriculture that tops the building.[1] The bar is known for "strong drinks" and "heavy pours."[2] When talking about the statue, both Mikey and Richie refer to "architect John Storrs" although Ceres was the work of sculptor John Storrs.[3] The Chicago Board of Trade building was designed in the Art Deco style by architects Holabird & Root; the statue "sits atop the building's pyramidal roof. The straight lines on her garment and her machine-made appearance make her the quintessential...ornament for this completely stylized structure."[4] In Mikey's story he and Richie stumble into 6 a.m. rager where they encounter hockey players Denis Savard, Chris Chelios and Ed Belfour, and actor Bill Murray.[2] While Mikey is talking, he prepares the braciole that Carmy mentions in the season-one finale, assigning Carm to finish the work ("Carmy, do some parm") and rejecting Sugar's proposal that they include raisins, which is how their mom would have done the dish.[5][3]
The flashback with Mikey in the Berzatto house kitchen was filmed in California. According to Ebon Moss-Bachrach, "Jon's scene was the last thing we shot, so we were able to change our appearance a little bit...Jon was in the middle of doing American Gigolo and we could only really get him for a day. A few of us went out to L.A., and we shot it there, so the whole temperature was quite different, the light was different. It felt not so dark, in a way."[6]
Richie complains about changes at "Pilsen...Wicker...Logan," meaning the neighborhoods of Pilsen, Wicker Park, and Logan Square.[7]
Carmy rejects Sydney's proposed risotto and cola-braised short ribs as "not ready" for their menu.[3] According to Food & Wine, "On television and in real life, nothing is cozier than a Dutch oven filled with braised, fall-off-the-bone tender short ribs served over risotto. Here, per Sydney's creativity, classic wine and stock braising liquid get a surprising addition from cola, which balances the savory with a touch of complex sweetness to create a smooth, rich sauce."[8] Braising is a cooking technique in which meat is "first browned in fat, then cooked, tightly covered, in a small amount of liquid at low heat for a lengthy period of time" which develops flavor and makes the protein tender.[9] According to The New Food Lover's Companion, risotto is a labor-intensive, delectable, creamy "Italian rice specialty made by stirring hot stock into a mixture of rice (and often chopped onions) that has been sautéed in butter. The stock is added ½ cup at a time and the mixture is stirred continually while it cooks until all the liquid is absorbed before more stock is added."[10] Sydney's risotto recipe uses an étouffée stock as a flavor base; this is what she was working on in "Sheridan" when she asked Carmy to help her strain her stock.[11]
A VIP guest at the Beef in this episode is local weatherman Tom Skilling.[12]
In 2024, the Hollywood Reporter ranked "Ceres" 16th-best out of 28 episodes produced to that point, commenting "Bernthal instantly infuses Mikey with so much life, making the audience feel the character's absence almost as much as the loved ones he left behind."[14] In 2024, Variety listed "Ceres" at number 10 on a list of top 10 episodes of The Bear.[15] Vulture rated it five out of five stars.[12]
Den of Geek hailed Bernthal's debut appearance a crucial to the long-term overall emotional impact of The Bear: "The Bear has been great from its first episode on. But it didn't fully become the best version of itself until season 1 episode 6 'Ceres,' in which Mikey is first introduced via flashback. As Mikey attends to the Berzatto family dinner and enthralls his siblings with a story that they've all heard a thousand times, the melancholy at the center of the story firmly locks into place and is never dislodged. Every character on The Bear makes more sense when you remember what they've lost. Even Syd, who never knew Mikey, has to confront his shade within Carmy's baby blue eyes every day."[16]
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