

Peter Frampton

A chef's tale

A chef's tale

Rick Tramonto is a busy man. Probably most well known as the founding chef and partner at renowned Chicago restaurant Tru, he has been honored with several culinary awards, appeared on "Top Chef" and "Top Chef Masters," and written a pile of cookbooks. But Tramonto will be the first to admit his journey hasn't been a cakewalk.

"I had a lot of tragedies to deal with as a kid. A lot," says Tramonto, whose new book, "Scars of a Chef" (SaltRiver, $24.99), was released in March. "It's something I want to talk about so I can help other people who've had hardships."

Tramonto beat drug and alcohol addiction. He struggled with learning...