Rocco DiSpirito Biography

Fast Facts

• Named one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chef in 1999 and Gourmet Magazine America's Most Exciting Young Chef in 2000
• Won the James Beard Award for Best Cookbook - Cooking from a Professional Point of View for "Flavor" in 2004
• Visits schools to educate kids about eating healthy and serves free lunches to them paid for by people who visit his food truck
• Graduated with honors from the Culinary Institute of America in 1986, studied at the Jardin de Cygne restaurant in Paris, and earned his degree in Business from Boston University in 1990
• Started out at the Adrienne restaurant under chefs Jean-Michel Diot and Jacques Chibois and later worked at Aujourd'hui in Boston, where he picked up his French-Asian cooking style
• Opened his first restaurant, Dava Restaurant, in 1995, and later opened the popular Union Pacific restaurant in 1997
• Founded the production company Savory Place Media in 2012, with its first project being "Now Eat This! Italy․"
• Best known as a celebrity chef and host of "Now Eat This! With Rocco DiSpirito" and "Restaurant Divided․"
• Is the author of several bestselling cookbooks, including "Now Eat This! Diet," "Now Eat This! Italian," and "The Pound a Day Diet․"
• Created the Now Eat This! Truck, a food truck in New York City that served meals from his cookbook series by the same name