Rocco DiSpirito

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Rocco DiSpirito (born November 19, 1966 in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York) is an American chef based in New York City. He is a 1986 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and a 1990 graduate of Boston University with a bachelor's degree in business. DiSpirito is known for his Italian-American cuisine and his innovative fusion cooking; his mother, Nicolina, is known for her Italian meatballs.

DiSpirito is primarily known as a celebrity chef and a prominent cookbook author. He is known for his involvement in Union Pacific, a restaurant he opened in 1997 in the Gramercy Park section of Manhattan to good reviews. He left Union Pacific in 2004. In 2003 and 2004, DiSpirito was the subject of the NBC reality television show The Restaurant, which followed DiSpirito, his mother, Nicolina, and restaurant co-owner and financier Jeffrey Chodorow during the opening of their restaurant, Rocco's 22nd Street. Due to disagreements between DiSpirito and Chodorow, Chodorow closed the restaurant and reopened it as Caviar and Banana.

DiSpirito hosted his own radio talk show for WOR from October 2004 through December 2005. He was set to replace retiring WOR host Bob Grant on his mid-afternoon show in 2006,^[1] but left because of creative differences with the management over the new show. According to his official web site, as of 2007, he was developing a new cable television show in Manhattan.

He was also featured in a Lincoln MKX commercial, the ABC sitcom The Knights of Prosperity, and as a guest judge on Bravo's Top Chef.

He then returned in the Season 3 Finale of Top Chef. Three "celebrity" chefs were brought to work as sous-chefs to the contestants. DiSpirito was the sous-chef for competitor Hung Huynh.

Recently, he appeared on NBC'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 Rocco's own recipes. Rocco himself judged the food and determined the winning team.

On March 14, 2008 he was the guest judge for the season 4 premiere of Top Chef.

Rocco has been most recently linked to CEO of Edmonds Entertainment Group, Inc, and ex-wife of Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Eddie Murphy, Tracey Edmonds. The two were seen at after-parties for the 2007 Oscars.