Movies and TV shows about the inner workings of the culinary world have let us peek into restaurant kitchens before. But FX’s new “The Bear” is the first to force you to work in one.

As the series (streaming on Hulu) opens, the young chef Carmen Berzatto has left behind a soaring career, replete with awards like the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star, at an unnamed high-end New York restaurant (played by Eleven Madison Park). He’s come home to Chicago to run his family’s Italian beef sandwich shop after his brother Mikey died by suicide, leaving a $300,000 debt but no note.