Matty Matheson Grades the Kitchen Skills of His ‘The Bear’ Co-Stars

Matty Matheson in FX's 'The Bear' FX Logo text

Matty Matheson is not an actor. Or at least, he was not an actor.

Matheson, the former executive chef at Canadian restaurant Parts & Labour, was hired to be a culinary producer on FX’s The Bear. Then he eventually became a series regular, playing The Bear handyman Neil Fak through the hit show’s just-launched fifth and final season. So who better to critique his fellow actors on their kitchen skills than the one guy who does both jobs?

“Liza’s over here deboning branzino at home,” Matheson began, while seated next to Colón-Zayas, who plays Tina Marrero, and who became the first Latina ever to win best supporting actress in a comedy series. (Of course, we can debate that whole “comedy series” thing until the cows come home — and get ground up for his Matty’s Patty’s Burger Club.)

'The Bear' Final Season Review: Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri's Kitchen Comedy Nears the End With Emotion, Laughs and a Touch of Caution

Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri in FX's 'The Bear'

Here's What 'The Bear' Finale Is Not, According to the Cast

“I think everyone’s a little more connected with food, a little more understanding and pushing themselves through it — good or bad,” Matheson told The Hollywood Reporter. “Ten out of 10 for trying.”

“Cooking is not easy,” he continued. “The alchemy of seasoning properly, the right heat, the right temperature of the food you’re putting in the pan. There are so many things that can come into it.”

Baking requires even more precision. Lionel Boyce, who plays pastry chef Marcus on the series, isn’t even trying it after Christopher Storer’s cameras cut. Someone needs to tell his friends.

“It’s that awkward thing where if I’m at a dinner party or something, and they get to dessert, everyone just kind of looks at me, like, ‘So you brought nothing, you’ve done nothing.’ I just pretend like I don’t see them, I just look away,” Boyce said. “I feel like I’m the one in the friend group who cooks the least, so we don’t need to turn the tables and put it on me now — let’s just keep things moving how they were before.”

Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri play the top chefs on the show, Carmy and Sydney, respectively. They picked up some skills in seasons one and two, but plateaued at probably-not-deboning-branzino.

White says he began the series at “a real, like, zero base.” He added, “So I’ve improved significantly, but I’m still just, like, OK.”

“We don’t have to [cook] as much on camera, so we haven’t had to practice as much,” Edebiri, his CDC (chef de cuisine), added. “I think that we both sort of leveled out to something decent.”

Ten out of 10 for honesty.