Tru

The kind of magic husband-and-wife team Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand cook up at TRU in Chicago calls for the more mundane -- ocean-fresh fish and unsalted butter -- yet the wizardry of the finished product is undeniable.

 

Eye of newt, tongue of bat . . . Oops! Wrong ingredients.

The kind of magic husband-and-wife team Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand cook up at TRU in Chicago calls for the more mundane -- ocean-fresh fish and unsalted butter -- yet the wizardry of the finished product is undeniable.

Tramonto's no-nonsense demeanor belies the devilment going on in his brown, twinkly eyes, while Gand's cheerleader attitude hides the long hours she puts in to make her dessert presentations visual stunners.

They're a perfect foil for each other. And the yin and yang of their personalities is echoed in the dark and light tones of the urbane, 154-seat restaurant they own with Scott Barton and Richard Melman, founder and CEO of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, a Chicago-based restaurant-management corporation.

TRU has received critical acclaim since its opening in May of 1999, including 2000 James Beard Foundation Award nominations for best new restaurant, best pastry chef, and best baking and desserts book (Butter Sugar Flour Eggs). (cq--no commas in between)

The name of this $3-million restaurant is an acronym for "Tramonto" and "unlimited." It stands for being true to one's craft by keeping the flavor of the ingredients true, and using unlimited creativity with unlimited global resources. In fact, TRU's icon is a picture frame broken open.

Everything is carefully orchestrated here. From the floor-to-ceiling gauzy, white curtains obscuring the Gold Coast traffic, to the sterling silver flatware and Limoges china, everything is perfect. "Soignée," one might say. The serving tiles are designed by Tramonto with Glass Artistry, and the plush, munchkin-sized stools at every table are actually purse stands.

The strikingly minimalist decor is accented with blue-velvet banquettes, black mosaic floor tiles and charcoal carpeting. "We've purposely kept it simple with no adornments on the table so that the food is the center of attention," Gand says. Even the menus are black and white.

Yves Klein's nude blue torso ("Blue Venus") glows eerily in the darkened bar area where liquors and spirits seem to reach the soaring ceiling, and a dramatic staircase leads to the private mezzanine dining room.

The original artwork of Warhol and Mapplethorpe vie for wall space with kohlrabi and other vegetables which are displayed as sculpture.

The island-style theater kitchen features gleaming copper saucepans, a separate temperature-controlled pastry department, kitchen-table seating for six, and a futuristic automatic sliding glass door to the dining room evocative of Star Trek. The only things missing are the smoke and mirrors.

For VIPs, there is a private entrance from a back street to the kitchen table, which dominates an 11- by 14-foot room (doubling as an office during the day) with windows overlooking the pastry area and the hot-food line. With the pop of a cork, the computer work station can be transformed into a wine-decanting credenza.

The striking contrasts of the restaurant's decor extend to the food where creamy is paired with crunchy, sweet with salty, and hot with cold to create an explosion of textures, flavors and temperatures on the tongue.

The Lettuce Entertain You umbrella lifts the restaurant's day-to-day operation from Tramonto's and Gand's shoulders, giving them an opportunity to return to the kitchen and push their creativity to the next level.

While the food is contemporary French with Asian influences, Gand says they take the classics, deconstruct them, and turn them inside out. "The name might be familiar but we put a new spin on it. We start very traditionally and then break all the rules."

"A lot of non-food things have influenced my food and its presentation -- Cirque du Soleil, fine art, plays, movies, even God," Tramonto says.

Gand studied silver and goldsmithing in college and discovered her skills translated well to cuisine. After a stint cooking at a vegetarian restaurant, she became the pastry chef at Rochester, N.Y.'s Strathallan Hotel where she met Tramonto.

Tramonto was smitten from "Bonjour!" but Gand was cautious. Finally, his carved radish roses, scallion flowers and frantic phone calls with feigned pastry emergencies won her over.

Tramonto's story is a little different. Growing up the only child of Italian parents in Rochester, his mother's spaghetti and stuffed calamari cemented his love affair with food. At 15, family financial difficulties forced him to drop out of high school and enter the world of professional cooking. "I have no formal training; I began my culinary career at Wendy's," Tramonto said.

"He still makes the chili for us at home," Gand chuckled.

From there, they both went on to hone their skills at a series of upscale restaurants in New York before moving to Chicago to work at Melman's Avanzare, The Pump Room and Scoozi!. (cq--the exclamation is part of the name of the restaurant, that's why there's a period after.)

They married in 1988, and seven years later opened Brasserie T, featuring the rustic foods of France, Italy and America, which they still own and operate in a Chicago suburb.

The TRU menu consists of a prix-fixe, three-course section with choices in each of the three categories (appetizers, main courses and desserts).

Appetizers include Tramonto's paean to fish eggs, his caviar staircase served on a six-pound, teal-colored glass stairway etched with his signature. The eight steps are miniature palettes for four different spoonfuls of caviar, chopped hard-cooked egg whites, egg yolks, shallots, and capers. It's served with sliced, toasted brioche, crème fraîche and chopped chives. Climbing stairs was never so much fun!

Other first-course selections include black truffle risotto with fava beans and lobster served in a small copper saucepan, and chilled mosaic of seafood with saffron foam.

Main course offerings include roasted sturgeon with oxtail ragoût and carrot purée, Asian bouillabaisse with coconut curry and bell-pepper rouille, and molasses-lacquered squab with duck consommé and foie-gras ravioli.

Tramonto's food is exquisite. The flavors are intense and he is masterful in their pairing. Who would have imagined that a marriage of fish and oxtail stew could work? But it does. In fact, it's wedded bliss.

Many fine-dining restaurants supplement their regular menu with one or two tasting menus, Tramonto and Gand offer five ambitious "collections," or dégustations, featuring elaborate and whimsical smaller dishes showcasing their talents and highlighting seasonal ingredients. Wine pairings by the glass are also available with each course.

"We pour everything at Tru," co-owner Barton says. "We're adventurous. We have 850 different bins and if a customer asks for guidance, we find a flexible wine that will go with everything."

There is a major commitment to champagnes, especially by the glass, and the signature house cocktail is champagne, cognac, honey, and vanilla with a touch of lavender syrup.

A 10-course collection might begin with amuse bouches (tiny appetite stimulators) such as heirloom tomato salad dressed with hazelnut oil, carrot flan, wild-mushroom terrine with truffle vinaigrette, and pink-peppercorn-cured smoked sturgeon with balsamic vinegar.

The next course might have you climbing the caviar staircase; a third course might be green tea-smoked salmon terrine with anchovy-onion-green bean salad; next it might be sautéed foie gras with blueberries, huckleberries and white peaches in vanilla sauce; and the half-way mark might put you at truffle and porcini mushroom "cappuccino" soup.

Olive-oil poached hamachi tuna, with a ketchup-wine-ginger-soy sauce and a ragoût of scallions, ginger and crème fraîche brings us to the sixth course; and the savory food might end with venison in Valrhona chocolate-cherry sauce with wild mushrooms, mashed rutabagas and steamed spinach.

Next, a cheese course featuring up to 21 domestic and imported selections.

A pre-dessert course might come in the form of diced poached white peaches atop a quenelle of grapefruit sorbet.

Enter the big dessert guns served in a picture frame. They might be a watermelon juice/blueberry shooter, peach tart tatin with almond-ginger ice cream, crème brûlée with blueberries and almonds, squiggles of almond and mocha malted whipped creams, bergamot-flavored flourless chocolate cake with strawberries, and a single madeleine.

Then it's on to the mignardises (miniature desserts after the dessert) which vary nightly and might include chocolate truffles, cookies and takes on childhood candies like Tootsie Rolls and violet-flavored lollipops.

Be prepared to spend at least two hours dining on bounty like this.

In addition to Butter Sugar Flour Eggs, Tramonto and Gand have written American Brasserie and Just a Bite, a book of miniature desserts, is due out in the fall of 2001. Additionally, Gand's TV Food Network show "Sweet Dreams" debuted October 2.

How has a marriage between two vastly different people lasted 12 years? "Since we're in the same field, we appreciate each other's passion for his work and we don't have to feel guilty about the long hours we put into it," Gand said.

While the couple each puts in a 14- to 16-hour workday, Gand said, "I don't want to actually sit down and calculate how many hours I work, then I'll resent it. All my chef friends work hard, too, I can't explain why Rick and I have been so successful."

Melman knows the secret to their success. "They just have a great passion for food. I think Ricky and Gale have wanted to do something like this for so many years, that they've unleashed it all at Tru. The restaurant is sophisticated and European and they've surrounded themselves with a great support staff. Things just came together in a very positive way, everyone is in sync and it seems to be working."

Tru is open for dinner every night except Sunday and for private-party lunches. The valet who parks your car will not only remember your name, he'll have your car running and waiting at the end of your meal sans parking ticket.

Weekend reservations are running four months in advance, but a weeknight dinner reservation has a waiting list of just about a week. An average tab for two can run $275 exclusive of tax and tip, but Tramonto and Gand's fun approach to food is "Tru"-ly worth it.

Tru is located at 676 N. St. Clair St., Chicago, (312) 202-0001.

 

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