Rocco DiSpirito

Rocco DiSpirito born November 19 1966 is an American celebrity chef reality television personality and cookbook author based in New York City He is known for his involvement in Union Pacific a restaurant he opened in 1997 in the Gramercy Park section of Manhattan He departed Union Pacific in 2004 From 2003 to 2004 he starred in the NBC reality television show The Restaurant which followed the launch and operation of a new Manhattan restaurant called Roccos on 22nd The show was canceled and DiSpirito was successfully sued by the restaurants financier Jeffrey Chodorow to have the restaurant shut down and DiSpirito banned from entering the premises He succeeded Arthur Schwartz as host of Food Talk an hourlong 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 AE October 4 through December 27 2008 He was featured in a Lincoln MKX commercial and the ABC sitcom The Knights of Prosperity and was a guest judge on Bravos Top Chef He was a contestant on season seven of Dancing with the Stars and was paired with professional ballroom dancer Karina Smirnoff On June 15 2011 he debuted as host of a weekly reality TV cooking competition titled Roccos Dinner Party on Bravo TV He hosted the syndicated television program Now Eat This with Rocco Dispirito which debuted on September 15 2012 In 2013 he 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 he appeared on celebrity chef Guy Fieris Guys Grocery Games Superstar Tournament Part 1 competing against other celebrity chefs He has also appeared on other episodes of Guys Grocery Games as well as Tournament of Champions and Guys Ranch Kitchen