Predicting Rick Tramonto's Next Steps

Abruptly stepping down after 10 years as the executive chef and partner of the epic Tru only to pick up a new gig promoting salads at Wendy's, Rick Tramonto has been full of surprises this month. His upcoming plans were supposed to be announced earlier this month, but instead, Tramonto is choosing to tease us with vague tweets, meaning it's time to play another game of "What does it all mean?"

1. It's definitely a restaurant (more than one, possibly?): Tramonto tweets: "We're getting close to making an announcement of my upcoming restaurants and plans. Until then, I'm working with Wendy's on their new salads

2. It's probably going to be fancy:  Revealing one menu item, Sauté Foie with Chocolate Blackberry, we can only assume his new joint is going to be swankier than TOC's early predictions of a gastropub.

3. It's in Illinois, maybe?: Thanks to the power of social media, we know that Tramonto has spent most of his travel time around Chicago, Louisiana, and Columbus, Ohio. We're going to take a leap of faith and cross Columbus off the list. Having just returned from Louisiana and spending most of his time driving around the northwest suburbs listening to Rush, Tramonto seems pretty comfortable here. As TOC rightfully pointed out, he still has a restaurant in Wheeling, a family stationed here, and a strong connection to his church. Opening a restaurant elsewhere would take time away from these things.

In addition to what it is, when it will happen is the big topic of speculation. And given the recent surge of tweet teasers, we can only assume he'll be making announcement very soon.

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