Richard Michael Tramonto (born May 30, 1963) is a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a ki ...

and

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

author. He was executive chef and partner in Tru, a contemporary fine-dining restaurant from

Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) is a restaurant group currently comprising 120 or more restaurants mainly located in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded by Rich Melman and Jerry A. Orzoff in 1971. History The first restaura ...

Biography

A native of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, Tramonto began his culinary career working in a Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers. He later worked in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

. In 1994, while at Trio in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

, Tramonto was named among ''

Food & Wine Magazine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and season ...

's'' Top Ten Best New Chefs. In 1999, he opened Tru with culinary partner

Gale Gand Gale Gand is a Chicago-based pastry chef, cookbook author, television personality, and winner of the 2001 James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. Gand was the host of the Food Network show ''Sweet Dreams''. She was the Chef-in- ...

and

Rich Melman Rich Melman (born 1942) is an American businessman, and the founder and chairman of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, a privately held restaurant company with more than 100 venues."Let Us Now Praise R.J. Grunts: How Rich Melman and his Lettuce ...

. Tramonto and his partners at Tru won the 2007 James Beard Foundation Award for Service. Tramonto was named the "Best Chef: Midwest Region" by The James Beard Foundation in 2002. At this time, Rick was also a featured chef on Great Chef television, appearing in episodes of Great Chefs of America,

Great Chefs - Great Cities Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional che ...

Top Chef Masters ''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition te ...

, and

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, w ...

. Tramonto founded Cenitare Restaurants in 2006, opening several restaurants in a

Wheeling, Illinois Wheeling is a village in Cook and Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it is primarily in Cook County, approximately northwest of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 39,137. Wheeling is named f ...

hotel, including Tramonto's Steak & Seafood (now closed), Osteria di Tramonto (now closed) and RT Lounge (now closed). He left the company in 2009. Tramonto left Tru in 2010.

Works

* ''Butter, Sugar, Flour, Eggs'' * ''American Brasserie'' * ''Amuse-Bouche'' * ''Tru'' * ''Fantastico! '' * ''Steak with Friends" *"Scars of a Chef" On July 30, 2006, he and Gale Gand appeared on Iron Chef: America. Losing to

Mario Batali Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, and restaurateur. Batali co-owned restaurants in New York City; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and Newport Beach, California; Boston; Singapore; Westport, Connecticut; and N ...

(53 - 46) In 2010, appeared on Bravo's

Season 2. He was eliminated in the fourth episode of the season.

External links

*
Restaurant R'evolution, New OrleansSeafood Revolution, Ridgeland MS

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tramonto, Rick 1963 births Living people Writers from Chicago American chefs American male chefs James Beard Foundation Award winners