Since departing Tru, the self-made toque has been working on a new venture down in New Orleans with chef John Folse called Restaurant R'evolution, which opened just last week. We caught up with the James Beard Award winner recently to get the lowdown on the new eatery, his thoughts on the dining scene in Chicago vs. New Orleans and what advice he'd give to young chefs. Check out our chat with him below.
Zagat: What inspired your move to New Orleans?
Rick Tramonto: "There's a couple things actually. I still have a home and restaurant in Chicago, I live in both places right now. I'll continue to add properties in Chicago in New Orleans for sure, but it was John, you know. I would have never come to New Orleans by myself. As a chef of 35 years, you go to New Orleans, and London and Paris - it's just one of those food meccas you go to to get inspired.
I met John in 2005 at a Food & Wine event that we had at Tru which was a cheese maker's dinner. John was one of those few chefs that was also a cheese maker, so I found that very interesting. We just had this great kindred spirit and we kept in touch and became friends. And then when Katrina hit, I called him to see if he was ok and if he needed anything and he basically said 'I need you to come down here and help me feed the rescue workers and be part of the rescue effort.' I went down there for about three weeks to help feed all the military and FEMA and it was quite the ordeal.
And then five years after that, I said 'you know we should do some projects, we're really good together.' He's such a great historian and I'm a very contemporary chef. We really clicked and it worked well. I had some opportunities with the Starwood group and he had some with the Royal Sonesta group and we went down and kind of weighed the two properties and the location was incredible - it was right in the French Quarter, right on Bourbon and Bienville, you know it was win-win, it was like being in Times Square. They did a full build-out for us, we got to design my million-dollar kitchen, million-dollar wine cellar. The dollars were there, the opportunity, the location was there, the partnership was there and then once we started talking about food and taking all this classic New Orleans stuff and filtering it through my brain, it became very interesting all of the sudden."
I met John in 2005 at a Food & Wine event that we had at Tru which was a cheese maker's dinner. John was one of those few chefs that was also a cheese maker, so I found that very interesting. We just had this great kindred spirit and we kept in touch and became friends. And then when Katrina hit, I called him to see if he was ok and if he needed anything and he basically said 'I need you to come down here and help me feed the rescue workers and be part of the rescue effort.' I went down there for about three weeks to help feed all the military and FEMA and it was quite the ordeal.
And then five years after that, I said 'you know we should do some projects, we're really good together.' He's such a great historian and I'm a very contemporary chef. We really clicked and it worked well. I had some opportunities with the Starwood group and he had some with the Royal Sonesta group and we went down and kind of weighed the two properties and the location was incredible - it was right in the French Quarter, right on Bourbon and Bienville, you know it was win-win, it was like being in Times Square. They did a full build-out for us, we got to design my million-dollar kitchen, million-dollar wine cellar. The dollars were there, the opportunity, the location was there, the partnership was there and then once we started talking about food and taking all this classic New Orleans stuff and filtering it through my brain, it became very interesting all of the sudden."
Zagat: Tell us a little about the menu at Restaurant R'evolution?
RT: "It's certainly Southern-inspired but it has a lot of Rick Tramonto in it. There are a lot of classics from John's Cajun and Creole encyclopedia. It's very local and seasonal and very indigenous to the swamp, we call it the swamp-floor pantry and all the stuff that's really native to Louisiana. We're taking gumbo and turtle soup and stuffed flounder and a lot of the classics and just kind of reinventing them, but we're not doing molecular stuff or anything. We're paying high respect and homage to the cuisine and cooking it on beautiful china and service and adding lots of layers to it.
There's some very casual and very formal parts of the concept. New Orleans is such a casual party town but the folks here love their food and they're very serious foodies - so we had to kind of make it an everyday restaurant but also appeal to the serious food lovers with some multi-course tastings.
There's some very casual and very formal parts of the concept. New Orleans is such a casual party town but the folks here love their food and they're very serious foodies - so we had to kind of make it an everyday restaurant but also appeal to the serious food lovers with some multi-course tastings.
Zagat: How do New Orleans and Chicago compare as food cities?
RT: "Well you know, the towns are incredibly similar, the sports scene, the music scene and especially the food scene. Music and food are so connected. If you do a historical piece, it's really fascinating to see that when the slaves left the South, it was when they hit the tip of Illinois they knew that they were free. There's that train that goes between New Orleans and Louisiana. There's a lot of synergy. We can't believe how many people from Chicago and New Orleans and vice versa have come in to our restaurants. For our opening night at RR, we must have had ten tables come up to me and say: 'we used to live in Chicago but we live in New Orleans now.'"
Zagat: What are your favorite restaurants in the U.S. right now?
RT: "I just spent some time in LA and I love Animal - it's one of my favorite restaurants. I can't stop going there. I love Osteria Mozza, those are probably the two that I can't get out of when I go there. I was in New York a couple weeks ago doing some TV and still can't get The Spotted Pig out of my head - I love April's food and all the work that she's doing. I have my go-tos. I work so much and I travel between Chicago and NOLA so much now, but those would be the ones that I think inspire me the most right now."
Zagat: How do you feel about the upcoming foie gras ban in Cali, given your history with angry anti-foie protestors?
RT: "I'm very pro-foie gras, I have no problem saying that. I have always been at the front lines. I was the restaurant in Chicago that was picketed by PETA and the whole Charlie Trotter fiasco. I'm still pro-foie we have it on the menu at R'evolution. I'm certainly interested to see how it all turns out at the end of the day."
Zagat: You mentioned you were filming some TV in New York, what are you working on?
RT: [Laughs] "I can't tell you that. I'd love to tell you but I can't.
I'm giving a lot back right now, I'm doing a lot of speaking at colleges on substance abuse issues, etc. My heart is really with teenagers right now and I'm just trying to help them. The ones in inner cities struggling, the ones that are struggling because of the financial meltdown, etc. So we do a lot of stuff with my church. We have a great church both in Baton Rouge and in Chicago. That's really my other passion to be honest with you."
I'm giving a lot back right now, I'm doing a lot of speaking at colleges on substance abuse issues, etc. My heart is really with teenagers right now and I'm just trying to help them. The ones in inner cities struggling, the ones that are struggling because of the financial meltdown, etc. So we do a lot of stuff with my church. We have a great church both in Baton Rouge and in Chicago. That's really my other passion to be honest with you."
Zagat: What advice would you give to a young chef?
RT: "You know I think the biggest advice for me right now is to really stay out of the lifestyle of the 'rock 'n' roll chef.' There's a lot of access and excess in our industry. I've seen a lot of great cooks and talent just burn out and melt down and really struggle with the substance abuse issue. Stay passionate toward the art and the craft because it can swallow you up. That and wear comfortable shoes because you're standing for 16 hours a day."
Zagat: What do you think is the most underrated ingredient you've come across while cooking in this new region?
RT: "You know what I'm digging lately is filé powder, I think that's really interesting and I've been trying to pull some of those flavors and some of those interests around some of the cuisine. But also I think being in the South there's so much that's great... like the sugar cane fields. I've never been in a cane field or a processing plant before or being out on the Gulf.
I think a lot of it is historical. John is really an amazing historian. I'm kind of this hardcore, in-the-kitchen cook and he writes encyclopedias on this sh*t, he went to culinary school stuff like that. I never went to culinary school, you know, I never finished high school. I am 35 years in the business I never even had a paper route. I started at Wendy's in 1977, I've done nothing but tactical hands-on cooking where John has so much classroom time. So for me it's learning the 'whys' of stuff, like why Louisiana is the way it is and going back and studying that historical piece of what all the different cultures brought what they had to the table - that's fascinating to me that was also the draw for me.
Being in a place that is such a farm and fishing industry culture and going to those bayous and John taking me out into the swamps and going swamping and fishing is incredible. So is that whole hunting thing. I didn't grow up hunting I grew up in the inner-city, the only guns I saw were on the South Side of Chicago. It was a very different lifestyle."
I think a lot of it is historical. John is really an amazing historian. I'm kind of this hardcore, in-the-kitchen cook and he writes encyclopedias on this sh*t, he went to culinary school stuff like that. I never went to culinary school, you know, I never finished high school. I am 35 years in the business I never even had a paper route. I started at Wendy's in 1977, I've done nothing but tactical hands-on cooking where John has so much classroom time. So for me it's learning the 'whys' of stuff, like why Louisiana is the way it is and going back and studying that historical piece of what all the different cultures brought what they had to the table - that's fascinating to me that was also the draw for me.
Being in a place that is such a farm and fishing industry culture and going to those bayous and John taking me out into the swamps and going swamping and fishing is incredible. So is that whole hunting thing. I didn't grow up hunting I grew up in the inner-city, the only guns I saw were on the South Side of Chicago. It was a very different lifestyle."
Zagat: Do you have expansion plans in other cities?
RT: "Chicago is definitely next on our radar. There's Bar R'evolution and Restaurant R'evolution we thought we'd maybe move Restaurant R'evolution. The hot bed in Chicago right now is kind of the Girl and the Goat, you know the wood-burning ovens and rotisserie. It's kind of a folky bar concept, but I don't think Restaurant R'evolution would translate in Chicago. If we did it there, it would have to be the terroir of the Midwest, you know, kind of spin it that way."
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