This Award-Winning Chicago Restaurant Was Featured On The Bear, But It's So Much More

Award-winning Chicago restaurants are bountiful, but only a handful make appearances on equally award-winning television shows. One in particular, Kasama, definitely deserves its spotlight moments, and it received one in an episode of multiple-Emmy Award winning "The Bear" series. This Filipino restaurant is located in Chicago's East Ukrainian Village neighborhood and has earned the distinction of the world's first Filipino Michelin‑starred establishment. Accolades aside, Kasama is much more than a television backdrop and the associated buzz that generates.

Nonetheless, the exposure, sometimes called the "Bear effect," undoubtedly boosted the restaurant's profile, for intrigued "Bear"-fans as well as genuine culture-food devotees. In Season 2, Episode 3, titled "Sundae," the series sends Sydney on a food tour of Chicago, where she visits Kasama. After Sydney tastes its mushroom adobo, longanisa sausage, and hash browns, the restaurant becomes a source of culinary inspiration for her character. It also highlights what Kasama's longtime devotees already knew — the eatery's firm devotion to modern Filipino flavors, ingredients, and dishes. 

Chef-owners Tim Flores and Genie Kwon opened Kasama in 2020, earning its Michelin star in 2022, a full year before "The Bear" episode aired. It had also been named a 2022 finalist for Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation, later earning the foundation's 2023 title of Best Chef: Great Lakes. In the same year, it landed on our own Tasting Table ranked list of Chicago's best restaurants. All said, the food itself is still the core reason for all that attention — and for its inclusion in "The Bear's" showcase of Chicago restaurants.

As with any restaurant, whether casual or fine-dining, the food tells the story of its success. In the case of Kasama, two stories and two food experiences emerge. The first is Kasama's daytime "savory and bakery" shop, open Wednesday through Sunday, providing counter service on a first-come, first-serve basis. The well-loved pastries are known to sell out, so arriving early is your best shot for snagging pastries made by Kwon and savory items from Flores, on top of a menu of lumpia Shanghai spring rolls, meatloaf, chicken or mushroom adobo, and more, including that Bear-famous sandwich with longanisa sausage. 

As evening arrives, things change — a lot. The ambiance becomes purely fine-dining, and so does the menu. Evening meals are served Thursday through Sunday, and there's no fretting over which dishes to choose. Kasama has that covered with elegant 13 courses on its modern Filipino tasting menu, spread over an evening lasting about 2.5 hours. The menu changes with the seasons, but diners report highlights such as: siomai, a duck and foie gras dumpling topped with pickled mushrooms; kinilaw with hamachi, coconut cream, and caviar; and the chef's take on pancit with squid ink noodles, lamb belly kare kare, and serrano ham.

If it all sounds a bit much, brace yourself for the bill: $295 per person, plus optional $185/$95 for alcoholic/nonalcoholic pairings. It's one of the hardest Chicago restaurant reservations to get, and they go live at midnight for open slots across a rolling 45-day calendar.