Anthony Martin

Chef, Tru
Chicago, Illinois

When you think “fine dining,” you probably don’t think

“NASCAR.”

But chef Anthony Martin, who’s the executive chef of Tru—

the legendary Chicago restaurant where chefs Rick Tramonto and

Gale Gand made their names—is the son of a race-car driver. His

father works as a mechanic by day and races cars at night. Clearly

it’s genetic because Martin has racing in his bones too.

“If I didn’t cook, I’d be involved in motor sports in some way,”

he tells me matter-of-factly in the kitchen of his Chicago

apartment.

As it stands, he keeps a race car at his family home in Ohio and

owns a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 (the fastest Jeep you can own,

apparently). He rides a race bike to work every day and says that

he never takes it out of first gear.

You’d think a cook with a racer’s soul like Martin’s would have

trouble fitting into the sophisticated world of fine dining, but

that’s not the case. Despite his speedy inclinations, watching

Martin in the kitchen is like watching a painter rather than a racer.

And art, not speed, is what got him started in the first place.

“I’ve been drawing since I was three,” he tells me. “When I