Sweetbitter is a coming-of-age drama series that follows the journey of Tess (Ella Purnell), a small town girl who leaves her home to seek her destiny in the big wide world of New York. Based on the bestseller by Stephanie Danler, the show explores the world of gastronomy through the eyes of a waitress.
At first, the series may not seem to form a storyline that you wouldn’t already know. However, as the story progresses, the coming-of-age format turns out to be a culinary five-star drama. The show is particularly interesting as it takes you on a journey with Tess and allows you to learn with her.
Tess is the main protagonist who, after a miserable move to her new home, is desperately looking for a job that pays her rent. She can barely pay the first rent because she sells her car to strangers. The mid-twenties eagerly pilgrimages from bar to restaurant to cafe to get a job as a waitress. Of course, she ends up in a first-class gourmet restaurant. Even though she is rather clumsy and almost stupid at her job interview, restaurant manager Howard (Paul Sparks) seems to see something in her and hires her as a waitress.
At the beginning, Tess is thrown into cold water, working in the kitchen takes up one half of the job, while the other half is dominated by customer service. Both easier said than done. At first glance, colleagues seem gruff and egocentric. But after her first day at work, Tess seems to get more and more used to the tough gastro-life, finds friends in her team, and even falls in love.
As the story progresses, one sees her experiences in New York nightlife and, even more explicitly, in the nightlife of the gastronomes. For 10-12 hours, the employees in Howard’s noble restaurant slave away their shifts before they can let themselves go in the evening in the so-called “home bar”. Excitedly, the audience plays drug sitter and foyerist at the same time. Because Tess is not afraid to try all kinds of drugs that her party-packed colleagues slip her. At a certain point in the series, the trips become an elementary part of the storyline and you dive into the world of the unpleasant life of a waitress trying to make ends meet in the world’s capital.
The show has delicate and aesthetic shots and episodes of about 30 minutes in length. It brings everything you would expect from an evening entertainment, including a quirky main character with gross motor skills, an extremely strict working environment, and a sexy bad boy who is not easily won over by Tess.
One of the things that make the series particularly enjoyable is the visual focus on drinks and food, which underlines Tess’s newly awakened desire to learn more about culinary arts. Watching Sweetbitter may also leave you craving tasty snacks and good wine, so it’s best to stock up before you begin.
