Rocco DiSpirito (born November 19, 1966) is an American

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a ki ...

and

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1 ...

personality based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, known for starring in the program '' The Restaurant''.

Early life and education

DiSpirito was born in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He graduated in 1986 from the

Culinary Institute of America Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park (CDP), New York, Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland, New York, Haviland. ...

, and in 1990 from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

with a bachelor's degree in business .

Career

DiSpirito is known for his

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

cuisine and his innovative

fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

cooking. DiSpirito is best known as a

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

and a

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

author. He is known for his involvement in Union Pacific, a restaurant he opened in 1997 in the

Gramercy Park Gramercy ParkSometimes misspelled as Grammercy () is the name of both a small, fenced-in private park and the surrounding neighborhood that is referred to also as Gramercy, in the New York City borough of Manhattan in New York, United States. ...

section of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. A year later, ''New York Times'' reviewer

Ruth Reichl Ruth Reichl (; born 1948), is an American chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''The New York Times'', Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and ...

, in a three-star review, reported that a woman at the next table was moaning in ecstasy as she ate, but it was impossible to determine what had provoked that reaction since so many dishes were worthy of such a reaction. DiSpirito departed Union Pacific in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, DiSpirito starred in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

show '' The Restaurant'', which followed the launch and operation of a new Manhattan restaurant called Rocco's on 22nd. The show was canceled, and DiSpirito was successfully sued by the restaurant's financier Jeffrey Chodorow to have the restaurant shut down, and DiSpirito banned from entering the premises. DiSpirito succeeded Arthur Schwartz as host of ''Food Talk'', an hour-long morning talk show on New York Radio

WOR (AM) WOR (710 AM) is a 50,000-watt class A clear-channel AM radio station owned by iHeartMedia and licensed to New York, New York. The station airs a mix of local and syndicated talk radio shows, primarily from co-owned Premiere Networks, inclu ...

, from October 2004 through December 2005, and then hosted 12 episodes of the TV show ''Rocco Gets Real'' on A&E (October 4 through December 27, 2008). He was featured in a

Lincoln MKX The Lincoln MKX is a mid-size luxury crossover SUV marketed and sold by the Lincoln brand of Ford Motor Company. As Lincoln is phasing out its use of "MK" model names, the MKX adopted the Lincoln Nautilus nameplate as part of a mid-cycle update ...

commercial and the ABC

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

'' The Knights of Prosperity'', and was a guest judge on Bravo's ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional che ...

''. DiSpirito returned in the ''Top Chef'' season three finale (''Top Chef: Miami'') — in which three celebrity chefs were brought to work as sous chefs to the contestants, with DiSpirito assisting

Hung Huynh Hung Huynh (born January 25, 1978) is a Vietnamese-born American chef, best known as the winner of the third season of '' Top Chef'', a reality cooking competition series on Bravo. He was the Executive Chef at Catch, The General, and Catch Miam ...

— and was a guest judge on the March 14, 2008 ''Top Chef'' season four premiere (''Top Chef: Chicago''). He appeared on

's '' The Biggest Loser: Couples'' (season 5) in an episode that aired on February 5, 2008 (episode 506), in which contestants were challenged to prepare three healthy courses based on DiSpirito's recipes; DiSpirito judged the food and determined the winning team. The following season he appeared on the second episode (airing September 23, 2008) of '' The Biggest Loser: Families'', taking the "worst" cook of each pair shopping and teaching them to prepare healthy recipes. DiSpirito was a contestant on season seven of ''

Dancing With The Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

'' and was paired with professional ballroom dancer

Karina Smirnoff Karina Smirnoff (russian: Карина Смирнова, links=no; born January 2, 1978) is a Soviet-born American professional ballroom dancer of Ukrainian origins. She is known as a professional dancer on ''Dancing with the Stars,'' where sh ...

. He was eliminated on the October 14, 2008, episode and placed ninth overall. In 2006, DiSpirito performed a public service announcement for

Do Something DoSomething (also DoSomething.org) is a global nonprofit organization with the goal of motivating young people to make positive change both online and offline through campaigns. The organization's CEO is DeNora Getachew. History The organizatio ...

to promote food drives for schools. On May 3, 2010, DiSpirito appeared as himself on the ABC television series ''

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

'' in the episode "Food to Die For." On June 15, 2011, DiSpirito debuted as host of a weekly reality TV cooking competition, titled ''

Rocco's Dinner Party ''Rocco's Dinner Party'' is an American reality competition series which premiered on June 15, 2011, on the Bravo cable network. Each week, three chefs are challenged to craft the perfect dinner party for celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito and his ...

'', on Bravo TV. DiSpirito appeared as a celebrity contestant on the June 21, 2012, episode of the Fox dating game show '' The Choice''. DiSpirito hosted the syndicated television program ''Now Eat This! with Rocco Dispirito'', which debuted on September 15, 2012. In 2013, DiSpirito hosted the Food Network reality show ''Restaurant Divided'', where he went to struggling restaurants where the owners had two differing visions and then picked which concept would save the restaurant. On August 20, 2017, DiSpirito appeared on celebrity chef Guy Fieri's ''Guy's Grocery Games - Superstar Tournament Part 1'', competing against other celebrity chefs for a $40,000 first prize donated to their chosen charity. DiSpirito made it to the finale and beat out the previous tournament winner Iron Chef

Alex Guarnaschelli {{Infobox chef , name = Alex Guarnaschelli , image = , caption = , birth_date = {{birth date and age, 1969, 6, 20 , birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. , birth_name = Alexandra Maria Guarnaschell ...

. DiSpirito often appears as a judge on ''

Guy's Grocery Games '' Guy's Grocery Games '' (often nicknamed ''Triple G'') is an American reality-based cooking television game show hosted by Guy Fieri on Food Network. Each episode features four chefs competing in a three-round elimination contest, cooking food ...

'' and occasionally competes on the show. He has also appeared on '' Tournament of Champions'', which is also hosted by his friend

Guy Fieri Guy Ramsay Fieri (, ; ''né'' Ferry; born January 22, 1968) is an American restaurateur, author, and an Emmy Award winning television presenter. He co-owns three restaurants in California, licenses his name to restaurants in New York City, Las ...

. He has also made appearances on '' Guy's Ranch Kitchen''. After a lengthy hiatus as a restaurateur, DiSpirito returned to the kitchen in 2019 as the chef at the Standard Grill in New York City's

Meatpacking District The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan that runs from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street. The Meatpacking Business Improvement District along ...

. In October 2019 it was announced that DiSpirito was no longer with the restaurant.

Awards

* ''

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

'' for his book ''Flavor'' * 1999, ''America's Best New Chef'' by ''

Food and Wine Magazine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and season ...

'' * 2000, ''Most Exciting Young Chef'' by '' Gourmet Magazine'' * 2000, Nominated Best Chef: New York City by James Beard Foundation * 2001, Nominated Best Chef: New York City by James Beard Foundation * 2002, ''Sexiest Chef Alive'' by ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

'' * 2003 Nominated Best Chef: New York City by James Beard Foundation * 2004 Winner James Beard Award: Best Cookbook - Cooking From A Professional Point of View

Cookbooks

* (2003, November 5) ''Flavor''. Hyperion. () * (2004, November 17) ''Rocco's Italian American''. Hyperion. () * (2005, December 6) ''Rocco's Five Minute Flavor: Fabulous Meals with 5 Ingredients in 5 Minutes''. Scribner. () * (2007, November 6) ''Rocco's Real Life Recipes: Fast Flavor for Everyday''. Wiley. () * (2008, October 21) ''Rocco Gets Real: Cook at Home, Every Day''. Wiley. () * (2010, March 2) ''Now Eat This!: 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods, All Under 350 Calories''. Ballantine Books. () * (2011, March 22) ''Now Eat This! Diet: Lose Up to 10 Pounds in Just 2 Weeks Eating 6 Meals a Day!'' Grand Central Life & Style.() * (2012, September 25) ''Now Eat This! Italian: Favorite Dishes from the Real Mamas of Italy—All Under 350 Calories''. Grand Central Life & Style. () * (2014, January 7) ''The Pound a Day Diet: Lose Up to 5 Pounds in 5 Days by Eating the Foods You Love''. * (2016, January 28) ''The Negative Calorie Diet: Lose Up to 10 Pounds in 10 Days with 10 All You Can Eat Foods''. HarperWave. () * (2017, October 17) ''Rocco's Healthy & Delicious: More than 200 (Mostly) Plant-Based Recipes for Everyday Life''. * (2020, March 3) ''Rocco's Keto Comfort Food Diet: Eat the Foods You Miss and Still Lose Up to a Pound a Day''.

References

External links

* * ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

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about fallout from the reality TV show * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dispirito, Rocco 1966 births Living people People from Queens, New York American cookbook writers American people of Italian descent American television chefs American male chefs Boston University School of Management alumni Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park alumni Diet food advocates Participants in American reality television series American restaurateurs James Beard Foundation Award winners