Rick Tramonto

Rick Tramonto is executive chef/partner at the world-renowned four-star and Relais & Chateaux restaurant Tru, in Chicago. Tramonto is also culinary director of Tramonto’s Steak & Seafood, RT Sushi Bar, and Osteria. He has received a bevy of awards and honors including the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef: Midwest Award, the Robert Mondavi Award for Culinary Excellence, Food & Wine magazine's Top 10 Best New Chefs 1994, Outstanding Service Award from The James Beard Foundation, Four-star Mobil, and the Wine Spectator Grand Award. Tramonto started his culinary career in Rochester N.Y., at Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers in 1977, and has gone on to work with some of the masters: Pierre Gagnaire, Michel Guerard, and Alfred Portale. An accomplished cookbook author with six titles to his credit, his seventh book is due to be released in Spring of 2010 called Rick Tramonto Steak with Friends. Tramonto has a number of television appearances that include Oprah, Today, Iron Chef America, and most recently as a judge on Top Chef.

Competing for: Feed The Children, through Gregory Dickow Ministries