Rocco DiSpirito

Rocco DiSpirito
Rocco DiSpirito (second from right) in a panel discussion with Amanda Hesser, Marion Nestle and Julie Powell
Born	(1966-11-19) November 19, 1966 (age 50) Jamaica, Queens, New York City

Rocco DiSpirito (born November 19, 1966) is an American chef based in New York City.

DiSpirito was born in Queens, New York City, New York. He graduated in 1986 from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and in 1990 from Boston University with a bachelor's degree in business. DiSpirito is known for his Italian-American cuisine and his innovative fusion cooking.

DiSpirito is best known as a celebrity chef and a cookbook author. He is known for his involvement in Union Pacific, a restaurant he opened in 1997 in the Gramercy Park section of Manhattan. A year later, New York Times reviewer Ruth Reichl, in an ecstatic three-star review, reported that a woman at the next table was moaning in uncontrollable ecstasy as she ate, but it was impossible to determine what dish had provoked that reaction, since just about every entree was worthy of such moans. DiSpirito departed Union Pacific in 2004.

From 2003 to 2004, DiSpirito starred in the NBC reality television 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), 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).