-
Rocco’s Hips Don’t Lie
So far, the chef has survived not one, but TWO nights of ‘Dancing With the Stars.’
Posted 09/25/08 in Grub Street : Dancing in the Dark
-
French Chefs Want ‘World Treasure’ Status; Dinner Parties Amid Ike’s Destruction
Jean-Georges prepared a last-minute meal for the French president, and Rocco DiSpirito can't dance, plus more from our glance at the morning headlines.
Posted 09/24/08 in Grub Street : Mediavore
-
Rocco DiSpirito: Always Dancing, Always a Star
In honor of his dance-floor debut tonight, the chef talks about how he busts a move.
Posted 09/22/08 in Grub Street : Dancing in the Dark
-
‘Top Chef’ Product-Placement Numbers Revealed
Of the cable programs featuring the most product placement, ‘Top Chef’ comes in at a respectable third place with over 9,000 instances in the first half of the year.
Posted 09/16/08 in Grub Street : Top Shill
-
Rocco DiSpirito, Paragon of ‘Men’s Health,’ Hosts Urbanathlon
Rocco balances being a superstar celebrity chef and a triathlete.
Posted 09/09/08 in Grub Street : Douchebaggery
-
Whole Foods Salad Bar Not Healthy in Excess; Will Gage & Tollner Return?
H&H Bagels owner in the hole, a school lunch price hike, and more, in our daily news roundup.
Posted 08/25/08 in Grub Street : Mediavore
-
President Looks to Increase FDA Budget After Latest Scare; Pelaccio Eats Salad
Plus Gael Greene's decadent creation for Serendipity, Rocco DiSpirito's ideal summer day, and more, in our morning digest of news and gossip.
Posted 06/10/08 in Grub Street : Mediavore
-
Chefs Disappoint Their Parents; Cooking With 99 Cent–Store Food
Chefs let their parents down, Seamus Mullen will pull your iPod, and Eric Ripert comes up with a menu using ingredients from a 99-cent store.
Posted 03/26/08 in Grub Street : Mediavore
-
‘Top Chef’ Is Back, and Adam Platt Isn't Happy About It
Finally, after an interminable wait only broken by doses of Top Chef books, cell-phone games, and Sudoku, the series itself is back. This season is set in Chicago, and the cheftestants are a motley lot who nearly all fell on their faces trying to make deep-dish pizza. The elimination challenge was even more devastating, as the formidable Erik just managed to avoid the boot, leaving that dishonor to the young, uncertain Nimma. Naturally, within seconds we were online with Adam Platt, trying to make sense of it all.
Posted 03/13/08 in Grub Street : Back of the House
-
David Chang Triumphs Again; Richman Named Douche Bag at Golden Clogs
Eater SF brings us the highlights of the 2008 Golden Clog awards from Sobe, and they're as follows: David Chang takes the Fergus for greatest achievement in pork and/or guts — another one for the mantle! Drew Nierporent hands the Swollen Liver Award to Ariane Daguin of D’Artagnan and issues a PSA: “Remember, if you need a resy at Nobu, don't call me.” Rocco Dispirito presents his eponymous award for worst career move to Tyler Florence for endorsing Applebee’s. Alan Richman takes the Douche Bag Award for being a hater, while Mike Nagrant, of Hungryman.com, gets the Steingarten for actually getting food. Perhaps the real shocker: Thomas Keller gets the Mario award for whoring himself out without running his empire into the ground. Congrats all around! SobeWire: Live-Blogging the 2008 Golden Clog Awards [Eater SF]
Posted 02/22/08 in Grub Street : NewsFeed
-
Rocco DiSpirito Will Come to Your Home, Even If You're Not a Model
We're off till Tuesday. If you're looking for something to do over the long weekend, how about dusting off your résumé and telling A&E why you should get the chance to cook with Rocco DiSpirito? We just got the casting call:
Celebrity chef and author Rocco DiSpirito wants to cook with YOU in YOUR HOME! If you are planning an important meal or just want to share a significant moment over food, then A&E’s new show “Rocco to the Rescue!” (working title) wants to help. Invite Rocco into your kitchen, and he will teach you what to cook, where to find the ingredients and how to prepare the ideal meal for your extra special occasion.
Posted 02/15/08 in Grub Street : NewsFeed
-
What to Expect From the New ‘Top Chef’
We just screened the first episode of this season’s Top Chef, and again, we find the show compelling. And just the same as previous ones! Padma speaks slowly, Tom is bald and cocky, and Rocco DiSpirito and Tony Bourdain are back onboard. The location is a nonfactor — the main contribution Chicago makes is a Pizzeria Uno product placement. But the contestants still fit into those archetypes we love to argue about with Adam Platt.
Posted 02/14/08 in Grub Street : NewsFeed
-
Per Se Raises Prices; Shill for Whole Foods, Win Food
You’re going to regret not going to Per Se the last time you had a chunk of change to burn: Thomas Keller’s luxe restaurant has raised prices for both the regular and vegetarian menus to $275 for nine courses. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch] Violence continues in the Flatiron club district, as two men were arrested for stabbing a patron and a bouncer at Club Spy after a fight erupted in the VIP room. [NYP] As part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Green the Capitol project, the cafeterias are getting a locavore makeover, with the goal to sell as much locally grown, organic food as possible. [WP]
Posted 01/17/08 in Grub Street : Mediavore
-
‘Culinary Conductor’ Reinvents Himself as ‘Gourmet Dude’
A while back we peeked at the audition clips for Bertolli’s online cooking show with Rocco DiSpirito, and decided we loved, loved, loved a clip by Pete Chelala, who submitted a Daily Show–esque spoof called “Food Train.” Sadly his disco-dancing in a carpenter belt loaded with seasonings and spatulas didn’t convince the judges, but that’s okay — geniuses are never understood in their day, and a clip Chelala sends us from his new YouTube show, “Gourmet Dude,” convinces us he is just that. We have to warn you: Nothing much happens in this first installment, but then again nothing much happened in the first five minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey either. We have no doubt that good things lie ahead. Gourmet Dude [YouTube] Earlier: ‘Culinary Conductor’ and ‘Love Chef’ Woo Rocco Online
Posted 01/11/08 in Grub Street : VideoFeed
-
New York to Charlie Trotter: Bring It On!
So Charlie Trotter is coming to New York at long last. (Or so the New York Times says today, reporting that the celebrated Chicago chef has plans for a restaurant on East 22nd Street, at One Madison Park.) Our question is, what took him so long? Trotter has been considered one of the top chefs in America for years, but big names in second-rate food cities rarely make a big splash here. Paul Prudhomme, the pride of New Orleans, had only mixed success here, and in recent years Charles Ramseyer of Seattle (at Wild Salmon), and Fabio Trabocchi of Virginia (at Fiamma), both the toasts of their former towns, have received tepid responses here. (Tim Love, the pride of Texas, washed out completely with Lonesome Dove.)
Posted 11/26/07 in Grub Street : Back of the House
-
New Blue Ribbon Chef a Bouchon Bakery Alum; ‘Top Chef’ Reactions
The chef for Blue Ribbon at Six Columbus will be Bouchon Bakery alum Jose Salazar. [Hotel Chatter via Eater] By the end of Top Chef, even Frank Bruni got a little sentimental. [Diner’s Journal/NYT] Related: Adam Platt Was Right About ‘Top Chef’ All Along Rocco hearts Hung. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Posted 10/05/07 in Grub Street : Mediavore
-
D. Freeman vs. A. Platt; Ditch Your Topps Meat
For the first time Danyelle Freeman is one step behind Adam Platt in her review choice, and she matches his star selection for Accademia di Vino. [NYDN] Related: Molto Trendy [NYM] Blue Ribbon at Six Columbus is expected to open in a couple of weeks. [Eater] Related: Blue Ribbon Sushi at Columbus Circle Will Open in October Hung offers insight into DiSpirito’s comment that the Top Chef contestant reminds him of himself: “He’s confident, he’s cocky, he’s good looking … his technique is on, his flavor profile is my kind of food. I respect him a lot.” [Eat for Victory/VV]
Posted 10/02/07 in Grub Street : Mediavore
-
‘Exotic Spice’ Padma and ‘Ethnic Feast’ Marcus Samuelsson Among Most Stylish New Yorkers
When Esquire picked Bar Veloce’s Thomas Crowley one of the “Best Dressed Real Men in America” this month (and posed Simon Hammerstein and David Chang in pricey duds for its “Angry Young Men” spread), we realized that restaurateur style doesn’t stop at Batali’s clogs and Bobby Flay’s mom jeans. Now Us Weekly has posted its list of the “25 Most Stylish New Yorkers,” and we know a couple of the names.
Posted 09/12/07 in Grub Street : NewsFeed
-
A Restaurant World ‘Howl’
A reader sent us this Ginsbergian screed earlier this week, which struck us as a perfect snapshot of the restaurant world, circa summer 2007. We leave you now for the holiday weekend. Enjoy!
DanYelle as a restaurant critic? Anne Burell shticking it up in the kitchen with a skirt with horsies on it? David Chang morphing from shy nice smiley ramen guy to F-bomb dropping Esquire spread noodle mob boss? Johnny Iuzzini in a meringue body stocking? Tattoos as the new talent. Top Chef as the new Michelin. Glorified fryers, grass fed peaches, 1,000 day meat. I mean, it’s as if we are all now Cracker Jacks ripping open the next prize every time we open a menu. It's always going to be a disposable toy. Or wash-off ink. It's a 3 onion ring circus, this industry. We have our freaks and our clowns and our daredevils and our bearded ladies. It's "I invented the lobster roll and that white wicker chair to sit on while you eat it." Huh? It's sellouts: Bertoli, Starbucks, Target, FreshDirect, Appleby’s. It's all hypocritical: Eat fresh … and then buy my frozen dinner meals. Hitchcock would have tapped into a whole new genre with the horror of the food world.
—An Appalled SpectatorPosted 08/31/07 in Grub Street : The In-box
-
‘Culinary Conductor’ and ‘Love Chef’ Woo Rocco Online
You probably don’t care that Rocco DiSpirito will be hosting a cooking show on Bertolli’s website, but the people who are auditioning to be his co-host sure do! As you might guess, there are a few oddballs in the bunch: In one video, Jernard “The Love Chef” and Rocco’s self-described No. 1 fan promises to “spread love all over the kitchen,” only to bark out his cooking demo like a drill instructor. Then there’s Nicole Navarro, a retired Vegas showgirl “inspired by culinary” who, as if to make up for her use of “culinary” as a noun, ends her demo with a high leg kick.Posted 08/29/07 in Grub Street : NewsFeed
Advertising
Popular Topics
politics, movies, barack obama, spring 2009, john mccain, music, sarah palin, early and often, economy, paris fashion week, shopping, tv, video, models, the greatest depression, business, elections, slideshow, alexander mcqueen, debates, neighborhood watch, the greatest depression, openings, saturday night live, sports, tina fey, designers, ink-stained wretches, marc jacobs, party lines, sales, advertising, art, behind the scenes, chat room, gossipmonger, hair, john galliano, louis vuitton, media, mediavore, nightlife, overnights, parties, reality tv, right-click, two for eight, vivienne westwood, chanel, corton, diesel, early and awesome, federal reserve, ferran adria, hawaiian tropic zone, instant politics, jeremy kost, kanye west, karl lagerfeld, kudos, last night's gig, maison martin margiela, makeup, nbc, nina ricci, openings, real estate, sonia rykiel, stock market, television
Why Oliver Stone Made His Bush Biopic, W.
Theater Review: A Man for All Seasons
David Edelstein on Happy-Go-Lucky
Hilary Berseth's Buzzworthy Sculptures
