When I worked at The Old Spaghetti Factory
And musings on The Bear.
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ADOBO AND SAZON!!!
The Sazon and Adobo seasonings are back in stock! Wow! These two salt free blends are versatile and can be used on so much more than just Puerto Rican food. Our sazon is still the only on the market that uses wild achiote directly from Puerto Rico!
Y’all. Remember Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook? It’s still for sale.
I have just a little bone to pick. I’m sure you are tired of hearing all things about The Bear. I mean, I’m not. But, I’m sure you are. Instead of trolling a single TikToker with ten paragraphs on why they’re wrong, I’ll just vent here.
As someone who had to rewatch several episodes (with several breaks in between) during Season One of The Bear, I feel like that’s the reason I’m more invested in Season Two? Convinced I wasn’t a fan during the first season, like most art, I wanted to give it a fair chance. Well, not entirely true. I appreciated its cinematic beauty instantly. The anxiety I got from the episodes was insanely intense and who knew it would bring up some PTSD from my time spent at Old Spaghetti Factory and the local neighborhood restaurant known for its Mexican and American breakfasts. I won’t mention their name here because it’s a family restaurant that still exists.
There’s no romanticizing the industry when you work at a place like Old Spaghetti Factory, okay? Especially the one in Midtown Sacramento that was (is!) located in an old railroad depot that had the weirdest fucking layout. Military-esque industrial size pots for massive amounts of “marinara,” being made for the never ending amber waves of large parties because god forbid anyone come to OSF with just a two-top. This was in 1998/9 so not only was the “coco” still in recreational fashion (not to say anyone in the kitchen was on coco but someone was definitely on coco) and heavy metal mixed in with regional genres of Mexican ensembles blasted at we-need-a-sensory-break-area-because-holy-shit-what-the-fuck-is-that.
By Season Two it was obvious that I had fallen to The Bear’s charms just like everyone else, “Doesn’t Jeremy Allen White’s face look like a fucking Roman statue?” What was not obvious to me was the “slow burn” between Carmen and Sydney. So, here we go.
Are some of y’all fucking insane? Wait. We’re not supposed to casually use the term insane anymore. Dumb? DELIRIOUS! That is the appropriate politically correct term. Dear Spaghetti Monster, I hope so. Someone please correct me.
Maybe if you’re not on TikTok you haven’t been succumbed to the mania that is #sydcarmy
“The slow burn is slow burning,” said so many TT comments on the montage videos strategically edited to only capture random moments, looks and physical touches - out of context and played against fanciful melodic soundtracks - between The Bears’ main character Carmen and his sous chef Sydney.
“The scene of #sydcarmy under the table! I’m dead.”
Maybe it’s the pessimist in me (or my naivety in the ways of love or the fact that I live in fucking reality-landia at all times to a fault), but I am not seeing it. Jeremy Allen White looks at everyone like that! That’s just how his eyeballs are! What I do see are TT’ers thirsty for romance and it’s giving, “Dear Diary, Today Bobby looked at me in the hallway for half of a second and now we’re in love.” It’s also weird because it’s almost like they can’t conceive someone they find attractive, Jeremy Allen White (who will be called JAW here on forth), just being without a love interest?
What I do see between Sydney and Carmen are two people who think alike, have the same goals and have to work closely for 16 hours a day to ensure shit goes off without a hitch. I see Sydney is entrusted as Carmen’s right hand person and seems to be a lot more emotionally invested in making the restaurant work “Let me go chill with Claire, while I bail on Sydney the day we were supposed to go work at my own suggestion.”
And I like Claire! I think she’s got her shit together, she’s the softness that Carmen needs.
Random TT’er: “OMG! When he had his panic attack it was only the thought of Sydney that pulled him out of it.”
First of all, weirdo, he thought of everyone that was/is dependent on him and that damn restaurant. It’s like Gary and Richie said in episode 8, “I need this place to work.” “We need this place to work.”
Unfortunately, I also believe Sydney and Carmen are soulmates. Carmen is scared to fail his team and more importantly Sydney because she is the most invested. Maybe it comes from being an only child, but I really crave the closeness that comes with the type of friendship/relationship where only you and that friend live in each other’s heads. You don’t always have to be together romantically with your soulmate. Personally, I feel a lot more connected to someone I can be emotionally intimate with versus being physically intimate with. I also feel a lot safer with sharing vulnerability with someone I know I’m not going to be in a romantic relationship with because they’re less likely to use it against me. But, that’s just me.
I just don’t understand this mindset of automatically shipping a man and a woman just because there is closeness between them. It actually kind of makes me sad. There’s almost a loneliness behind it? It reminds me of some men who say that “men and women can’t be friends, even if the man isn’t attracted to the woman, he’s still smashing or thinking about smashing.”
I also don’t understand the mentality where so many of these TT’ers, mostly women, are manufacturing this “slow burn” between Carmen and Sydney. Or, even the few who commented on a romantic “connection” between Sydney and Marcus!
Sydney is in love with the industry. The girl just wants to graft. Sydney wants to be Carmen, not be with him.
What do y’all think? Leave your thoughts down in the comments.
Thank you! As someone who generally always tries to link people in movies, shows, etc I was like “they’re kin.” The under the table scene was such a beautiful intimate scene between comrades - and maybe offers possibility modeling on cross gender friendships. It’s also the story of what happens when we meet our idols and discover they’re just as fucked up and human as we are.
Love this take.
"I just don’t understand this mindset of automatically shipping a man and a woman just because there is closeness between them. It actually kind of makes me sad. There’s almost a loneliness behind it? It reminds me of some men who say that “men and women can’t be friends, even if the man isn’t attracted to the woman, he’s still smashing or thinking about smashing.”
and also
"Sydney is in love with the industry. The girl just wants to graft. Sydney wants to be Carmen, not be with him."
Can relate!