CHICAGO — What starts in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas — and that appears to be increasingly true when it comes to celebrity chefs opening restaurants in hotels.

Michelin three-star chef Joel Robuchon is coming to the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, joining the likes of Todd English and Alain Ducasse, whose restaurants at the W Hotel in Union Square and the Essex House, respectively, have been hugely successful. Top-name chefs are transforming hotel dining in other major markets as well, including south Florida and San Francisco.

Chicago has been a bit late to the party, with some of its finest hotels, such as the Four Seasons, The Peninsula and the Park Hyatt, running their own fine restaurants.

But an ambitious project by two of Chicago's most celebrated chefs — culinary partners Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand, of the acclaimed restaurant Tru — is the latest sign of change afoot.

And observers say the pace of the trend will only quicken.

WINNING COMBINATION

"In the old days, hotels were happy to lose a little or break even on their restaurants, but now that they've learned they can make money with a celebrity chef, it's a new ball game," said Clark Wolf, a New York-based restaurant consultant. "There isn't a hotel company in North America ... that isn't thinking about it."

In Chicago, the recently opened The James hotel features a steakhouse by New York phenom David Burke. And Tramonto expects celebrity chefs will open restaurants in some of the big condo-hotel projects that are in the pipeline.

But next up, Tramonto and Gand this fall will unveil four concept restaurants at the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel, a 411-room hotel going up in Wheeling. None will compete on the most rarefied level where Tru operates.

Rather, there will be Osteria di Tramonto, a midpriced Italian spot; Gale's Coffee Bar, with grab-and-go breakfast and lunch; Tramonto's Steak & Seafood, a pricey dinner-only restaurant; and RT lounge, featuring small plates of oysters, shrimp and the like.

And that's just the beginning.

The partnership formed for this venture intends to open restaurants in a Le Meridien planned for Rosemont, and in a Naperville hotel that is being renovated and rebranded. They also have their eyes on other markets, including Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., New York, Miami and Scottsdale, Ariz.

"I never graduated from high school. I never went to culinary school. I've been blessed with what God has given me," Tramonto said. "I never thought I'd get this far, and I never set limitations" on what might be ahead. In addition to their work at Tru, both chefs are cookbook authors and television personalities.

BIG MONEY PLAYERS

A newly formed company, Cenitare, is the engine behind the expansion. Cenitare partners include executives of two companies developing the $125 million Westin hotel complex in Wheeling, where the restaurant piece will cost $10 million.

Tramonto is a partner in Cenitare, which in Latin means "to dine often," and has a licensing agreement for the use of his name. Gand opted to link up in a consultant capacity only but has a licensing agreement on the coffee bar.

They plan to continue at Tru, where Tramonto, 43, is culinary director and executive chef and Gand, 49, is executive pastry chef.

The marriage between hotels and celebrity-chef restaurateurs can be mutually beneficial, observers say. The trend took off in a noticeable way in Las Vegas with Wolfgang Puck in 1992, followed by chefs such as Emeril Lagasse and Mark Miller.

"It's generally accepted in the industry that a successful celebrity-chef restaurant at a hotel can do 3 to 4 1/2 times in sales what a hotel can do with its own restaurant," Wolf said.

From the chef's point of view, "they normally get an attractive occupancy cost or lease rate, and sometimes a percentage of sales," said Dennis Lombardi, executive vice president of food-service strategies for W.D. Partners in Columbus, Ohio.

Tramonto, who would not disclose the financial terms of his deal, said he was attracted by the management expertise of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., whose brands include Westin.

"And there will be 400 bedrooms above the restaurant — what a beautiful thing," he said.