Born to Italian immigrants, Tramonto grew up in the dangerous streets of Rochester, New York. He was exposed early on to regular Sunday dinners and jumped right into the kitchen as soon as his tiny little hands can beat an egg. As a youth, he was filled with teenage angst as his family was buffeted by countless quandaries, often involving violent incidents and a whole lot of drugs and alcohol. He was angry, lost and seemingly headed to a tremendously grim future until he discovered his passion for food while working as cook at Wendy’s.
This passion took the young Tramonto far from his humble, unstable beginnings. He worked extremely hard in the showground of high-culture New York City restaurants, clawed his way up across the stadiums of first-class European kitchens and eventually built, brick by brick, the restaurants that he is now famous for today such as Chicago’s Tru, Trio, Tramonto’s Steak and Seafood, RT Lounge and Osteria di Tramonto. All of his restaurants garnered worldwide fame and countless awards, while Tramonto himself got named as the Best Chef of the Midwest Region. The now successful chef entrepreneur is also the author of eight best-selling cookbooks, an enduring presence in many cooking television shows and an inspiration to millions of aspiring chefs all over the world.