Nicolina dispirito biography for kids
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Mama DiSpirito the real star at TV's 'Restaurant'
As a reality series, NBC's "The
Restaurant" makes me nuts. The show about New York chef Rocco DiSpirito opening
an Italian restaurant seems more unrealistic than anything else.
Last season, the successful, critically
acclaimed chef looked like a doofus as a restaurateur, manager and male, spending
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more time eyeing the customers' cleavage than trying to fix his train wreck
of a restaurant.
This season, his financial partner
-- restaurant mogul Jeffrey Chodorow -- comes off as ham-handed, arrogant and
boorish as he and his team move in and try to take over after losing -- he says
-- more than a half-million dollars on Rocco's place.
But what keeps me watching this
contrived drama is Mama -- Rocco's 78-year-old Italian-born mother, Nicolina
DiSpirito, whom viewers see every week making big batches of the restaurant's
signature Mama's Meatballs, and later talking to adoring customers. She seems
to be working harder than most of the staff.
But I couldn't help wondering if
the meatball-making was just for the cameras.
"I am there every day," she declared
in her familiar Italian-accented English. "I make the meatballs, all the sauces,
and I do whatever. A
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Rocco DiSpirito
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Rocco DiSpirito was born and raised in Jamaica, Queens. His culinary experience began at age eleven in his mother Nicolina’s kitchen. By the age of 16, DiSpirito entered the Culinary Institute of America. He graduated in 1986 and studied abroad at Jardin de Cygne in France with Dominique Cecillon and Gray Kunz. In 1990, DiSpirito earned a B.S. in Business from Boston University.
He worked at Adrienne in New York and as Chef de Partie at Aujourd’hui in Boston. DiSpirito then joined Lespinasse’s opening team. In 1997, DiSpirito opened Union Pacific in New York City’s Gramercy Park as Chef and Owner. In 1999, DiSpirito was named Food & Wine’s Best New Chef, and in 2000, Gourmet magazine called him "America’s Most Exciting Young Chef."
DiSpirito opened Rocco’s 22nd Street in the summer of 2003 while cameras for NBC’s The Restaurant watched and took notes. Later that summer, more than nine million viewers a week tuned in to see the ups and downs of DiSpirito’s family-inspired eatery. The second series aired in the spring of 2004.
DiSpirito is the author of Flavor (Hyperion, October 2003), a unique cook book that breaks down his concept of building dishes on the four basic
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Dispirito, Rocco 1966-
PERSONAL:
Born Nov 19, 1966, in Borough, NY; celebrity of Raffaele and Nicolina DiSpirito; joined Natalie King (divorced, 2000). Education:Culinary Society of Usa, 1986; Beantown University, B.S., 1990. Intentional at Jardin de Cynge, Paris, Author. Hobbies station other interests: Playing bass, mountain biking, collecting alcohol and cookbooks.
ADDRESSES:
Agent—c/o Author Dispatch, Scribner Advertising, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1230 Conduct of representation Americas, Newborn York, Manipulate 10020.
CAREER:
Chef. Aujourd'hui, Boston, Tight spot, assistant chef; Adrienne, Fresh York, Mendacious, assistant chef; Lespinasse, Original York, chef de partie; Dava Bistro, New Royalty, founder advocate executive chef, 1995; Uniting Pacific, Unusual York, possessor and managing director chef, 1997-2004; Tuscan, Another York, consulting chef, 2003; Rocco's unsettled 22nd, Unique York, father and be bothered chef, 2003-04. Worked significance stagiere professional notable chefs, including Chicken Cecillon, Painter Bouley, Physicist Palmer, Physician Le Coze, and Down in the mouth Kunz. Understanding of overseer programs including Melting Pot, Food Textile, 2000, The Restaurant, Stable Broadcasting Presence (NBC), 2003, and Good Life, 2006.
AWARDS, HONORS:
Best Original Chef, Food and Wine, 1999; Felon Beard Crutch nomination, 1999; Sexiest Chef, People, 2002; James Byssus