Mother’s Day is a complicated day for many of us. To all who celebrate, enjoy your brunches and time with your families. To all who don’t, we’re thinking of you — please find something delicious to nosh on.
Today’s newsletter features: A look at Ravenous’ subscriber drive; a surprise visit to Gary, Indiana, the subject of a special episode of “The Bear;” and a special collaboration with Defector featuring lesbians and gambling.
The last two seasons, The Bear has meandered, failing to capture the magic that made the Chicago-based show a phenomenon. Now heading into its fifth and final season, FX decided to disrupt the formula and, without fanfare, the network dropped a special episode of The Bear last week written by Richard "Richie" Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Michael "Mikey" Berzatto (Jon Bernthal).
But I was also puzzled by the episode’s name: “Gary.” The show’s first four seasons focused on Chicago with tons of cameos from local chefs and restaurants. How did Gary, Indiana, a town of about 80,000, fit into the show? The city, shaped by the steel industry, isn’t exactly known for its restaurants, and its relationship with Chicago is a complicated one — Chicagoans have a fondness for shitting on their smaller Midwestern siblings — Detroit, Cleveland, and Milwaukee all are familiar targets.
Born and raised in Northwest Indiana, Michael Puente covers the region that includes Gary for Chicago’s local NPR affiliate, WBEZ. Puente was the first person I thought of after the episode was released. I’ve known Mike for two decades, first meeting him in the newsroom of The Daily Herald when I started my journalism career as a cop reporter. Puente has been a steady force for journalism in the Chicago area, growing up in East Chicago, Indiana.
After dispensing with the obvious — that Indiana is trying to steal the Chicago Bears and The Bear — Puente and I got down to talking about our shared apprehensions. Gary can be a popular punching bag, as Puente puts it, “it’s rough around the edges.” Would The Bear’s depiction punch down? While it was once the second-biggest city in Indiana, Gary’s population first began to decline in the 1960s, a victim of the downturn of the steel industry and white flight after the city elected its first Black mayor, Richard Hatcher.
“Somewhere along the line, people got scared and just decided, well, you know, Gary is not an area we want to live in anymore,” Puente says. “People practically started to just abandon the city.”
Gary is known for being the childhood home of Michael Jackson and his family. The town has also been nicknamed Magic City. In “Gary,” Richie quickly brings viewers up to speed with these key points of Gary lore as he and Mikey drive down the Chicago Skyway to make a mysterious delivery in the Hoosier State. There are no mentions of The Music Man.
The episode is really an excuse for Jerimovich and Bernthal to show off their acting skills. The two also worked with each other in the TV’s adaptation of Marvel’s Punisher, which, like The Bear, you can find via the Disney+ and Hulu subscription bundle. It’s unclear exactly when the episode takes place, but definitely before the events of the show’s first season. (A reference to striking FedEx workers at the end places the timeline around 2021.) The pair deliver quality performances, and while the episode fills out some character backstories, particularly Mikey’s, it’s not overburdened by any baggage from the main plot. It felt like a palate cleanser.
In Gary, Richie and Mikey stop for a quick bite at Koney King, a 106-year-old fast-food stand along Broadway, a prominent thoroughfare in Gary. The episode, filmed in 2025, might be the actors’ true Broadway debut, not that other production that premiered in March in New York. In Gary, Richie has yet to smooth out his rougher edges. Where in Seasons 3 and 4 of The Bear, he wears a suit and tie while running the floor of two fancy-ass restaurants, in “Gary” he dons a Members Only jacket and a white tank top.
Richie shows surprise when he sees Pizza Puffs on Koney King’s menu; he thought the fried delicacy filled with cheese and meat was exclusive to Chicago (Unfamiliar? Chicago food writer Dennis Lee shows you how to make your own).
While the two speak with Alicia, a worker at Koney King (played by Elisha Evans, a real-life employee at the hot dog stand), viewers can see a budding connection. Both counter-service restaurants, Koney King and the show’s fictional Original Beef of Chicagoland, offer food at affordable prices and share a responsibility to the community to deliver good hospitality. These are no-nonsense restaurants designed to get folks in and out quickly. You’re not sitting down for a three-hour tasting menu.
Gary, in general, isn’t known for its restaurants or fine dining; about 33% of the population lives under the poverty line — the U.S. average for big cities is about 17%. While there is more than corn in Indiana, the state’s tourism department didn’t join other Midwestern states in paying the necessary fees to bring the Michelin Guide to their areas. Still, there are a number of working-class restaurants in the city. Puente mentions Great Lakes Cafe, a small breakfast restaurant known for its omelettes and burgers: “They cater to a lot of contractors that go into the steel mill and salesmen,” Puente adds.
Northwest Indiana, known as “The Region,” does possess a signature burger style — smashed thin and popularized by Schoop's Hamburgers, a mini chain with restaurants in Indiana and in suburban Chicago. Puente jokes that the charred crispy parts are actually bits of steel. In Chicago, The Region in Roscoe Village does a great version.
Much like State Street in Chicago, Broadway was once a retail hub in Gary. Puente remembers dressing up to visit as a youngster while his family shopped at stores like Sears and J.C. Penney’s. Decades later, the strip is full of vacant lots that represent a lack of investment. Indiana University does have a branch along the strip, but as you get away from the highway, any vibrancy fades. There are pockets of investment elsewhere, but it’s safe to say VC-backed endeavors like PopUp Bagels aren’t looking at Gary (is that a bad thing?). The city does have a beachfront, Miller Beach, that Puente likens to the shores of Nantucket, even if local seafood may not be a draw.
Wanting to see more, I made the 45-minute drive from Chicago to Gary last week, crossing the border into a red state Indiana where they still let people smoke indoors at bars. Koney King’s tiny space features a counter that curves through the middle of the restaurant. In one corner, a large statue of its mascot — an anthropomorphic hot dog named Koney holding squeeze bottles of ketchup and mustard in each hand — stands. Koney licks its lips while applying a dollop of ketchup to its forehead in an attempt to make it look more desirable. This is as close to an Instagrammable moment that you’d find at the restaurant.
One worker was working the counter, taking orders (in person and online), cutting it up with customers, and cooking the food. She broke into song when Aaliyah’s “I Care 4 U” began playing over the speakers. I asked if she had ever heard of The Bear. She rolled her eyes at the question: “Of course I do; I work here.”
Later, a customer asks me about the results of a local election involving a crowded field for Lake County sheriff. After sharing his pick to win, he suggested that I order the signature coney. He would also ask me if I wanted to come to church with him. I declined, respectfully.
Initially, I asked for a Chicago dog, but changed my mind and followed the customer’s recommendation of a coney. The worker smiled in approval. The coney, a hot dog smothered with chili, is closely associated with Detroit, and I’ve sampled my share while visiting my in-laws. Koney King’s chili is made daily from a secret recipe. It’s full of garlic and has a slightly bitter aftertaste; like dark chocolate. My wiener — with a layer of mustard and diced white onions — was served on a napkin placed on the counter. The worker would later top me off mid-meal, bringing me a few extra fries that she dropped off on the counter fresh from the fryer using a bagger scoop.
Koney King reminded me of Fred & Jack’s and Dave’s Red Hots in Chicago, great stands that are pillars in the Black community. Koney’s food wasn’t top tier, but I could see how a hot dog like this could last a century. Even across state lines, the Chicago street food menu — outfitted with classics like the Chicago Dog, burgers, Pizza Puffs (we obviously mean the “Original Pizza Puff” — we don’t want beef with the company that makes the item), and yes, Italian beefs — is a tried and true formula.
After ordering a Diet Coke, which prompted a discussion about diabetes with another customer, I politely tried to engage the worker, asking her about The Bear. She told me a few customers came in that day because they saw the episode. Koney King also has Wi-Fi which made it easier to ask the worker what bar Richie and Mikey end up at. She studied the footage from the iPhone and wasn’t sure, spotting a TouchTunes jukebox in the background. She smartly suggested I look up bars with TouchTunes in the area to narrow the field. She said the space vaguely reminded her of the Hunters Inn, a bar a few blocks away. Sam Smith’s “I’m Not The Only One” played me out as I exited and drove to Hunters. No dice, Hunters wasn’t the bar. I did have a nice conversation about the resurgent Chicago White Sox and property taxes, all while my jacket absorbed the odor of a few cigarettes. It felt like the ‘00s again, before Chicago banned indoor smoking.
It turns out the bar used on the episode wasn’t even in Gary, which explains why there were no exterior shots or mention of the tavern’s name. The scenes were filmed in April 2025 at Southsides Bar in Alsip, Illinois, which is 20 miles south of Chicago and 30 miles from Gary. Puente would tell me something that made this set choice make sense. Many towns, like Alsip, that are southwest of Chicago, share more in common with Gary and Northwest Indiana. They represent the Calumet Region, which includes James Beard Award-winning Calumet Fisheries: “That whole region, from Blue Island all the way to Gary, there is a cultural connection because of the steel industry, and it's really the same feel,” Puente says.
We fixated on Calumet Fisheries for a bit. A visit from Anthony Bourdain put the charming 98-year-old smoked fish shack on the national radar: “He visits there, and suddenly it explodes in popularity,” Puente says. “And it's like, well, it was always there.”
As restaurants face a variety of economic challenges that make it harder to stay open, any boosts that pop culture can provide, including TV and movie tie-ins, are more meaningful. The co-owner of Ox Bar & Hearth, a Chicago restaurant, told me last week they were pleasantly surprised by the crowds of customers coming from a nearby movie theater who had just seen The Devil Wears Prada 2. However, Puente worries if The Bear will kick Gary while it's down: “Gary has a lot of toughness to it, but a lot of vibrancy, and still a lot of good people there,” he says.
The direction for Season 5 of The Bear isn’t clear as crews try to tie up four seasons of unresolved plot threads. While FX is tightlipped, it looks like viewers will get more visits to Gary. A Koney King worker says to look out for more episodes from Gary. Meanwhile, my car hit a pothole on the way home and got a flat tire. After rectifying that, I still made it home to Chicago by 5:15.
Thank You For Your Support
Our pre-launch subscriber drive wrapped up last week and we are so grateful by your support. We welcomed a total of 2,936 subscribers, a number that totally blew our minds, and 1,203 of those were paid subscribers. You've helped us raise enough cash to fund our first eight months of existence! Exciting stuff and we'll have more excitement to come.
Like this story? Drop a few bucks in our tip jar, and help us send Ashok to eat even more coneys — and Pizza Puffs. But no Malört.
🐦⬛ Bird Droppings
- Our man in Seattle, Harry Cheadle, mentioned Ravenous in his piece about the end of the digital media.
- Our friends at Best Food Blog shouted out our two pieces that appeared on launch day.
- Also on Best Food Blog, Adam Reiner explores Guy Fieri’s chameleon-like politics.
- ICYMI, sports super site Defector cross-posted Amy’s story on the unlikely saviors of the American sports bar: lesbians and gambling lounges. Yours truly served as the editor on this fun piece. Defector, which is worker owned, shared Amy's story in its Blogs of The Week newsletter
- The James Beard Foundation released its 2026 nominees for its media awards. Good luck to all who made the cut.
Raven Nickname of the Week
Welcome to Week 1 of a regular feature where we share the most creative nicknames for our mascot. You want to be in this space? You have to become a Regular. Do you want to know the raven's real name? Only Big Spenders have access to that truth.
This week’s nickname comes courtesy of Ravenous Regular Ken. Ken chose the name Maury. “As in a bastardization of Memento Mori, because clinical depression,” Ken writes. “Ravens are our little death buddies!”
