My unexpected hour at the Rydges bar in Christchurch

There’s a pivotal episode in season two (“Every Second Counts”) of The Bear (on Disney + via FX) in which Richie (superbly portrayed by Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is spending a week at Ever, a three-Michelin-star Chicago restaurant, so he can understand what it takes to be maître d' of such an establishment. Richie, naturally cynical, is annoyed by having to w…