I HAD NEVER MET GALE GAND BEFORE I WALKED INTO HER RESTAURANT TRU IN CHICAGO, which she runs with partner Rick Tramonto. So I did not know what to expect, especially since she said we would be cooking several dishes with her five-year-old son, Giorgio, and especially since one of the dishes was to be a root beer float. I knew we were in playful territory when, right at the outset, she told me, “The most important part of a root beer float is an elbow straw,” and that “if you are living in a country where you can’t get root beer, get a root beer-colored dog.”
