Archive through August 17, 2003
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TV ClubHouse: Archive: The Restaurant (ARCHIVES): Archive through August 17, 2003

Grooch

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 05:35 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Good! Rocco deserves that HoF moment! I was aghast when it happened.

Melgal

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 05:37 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Uh oh
'Rocco, There's A Fly In My Zuppa'
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/doc_o_day/doc_o_day.html

Scorpiomoon

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 05:43 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
"...six health code violations following an inspection last week, The Smoking Gun has learned."

My personal fav:

"...and for keeping two large metal spoons stored in a "container of greasy stagnant water." That's right, Rocco's was nailed for a greasy spoon violation."

Aye, aye, aye...

Rocco may walk away with a ton of money thanks to this show, but man, this is going to hurt his rep.

Surealityjunkie

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 06:59 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Hey Scorpio, I didn't get that in an email from The Smoking Gun... Did you get that today or did you do some sleuthing on your own? :)

Pamy

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 07:24 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Gotta love The Smoking Gun!!!

I wanted to cry when Rocco sent that guy back home! How mean was that? I give that waiter much credit cuz he just smiled and said thank you and left. God love him, I hope he got enough money to pay the rent.

I am waiting for some money hungry NY lawyer(there's an oxymoron!!) to approach the staff re a lawsuit. When they all talked about falling and how Rocco hadn't done anything to prevent it I could see some lawyers scrambling to get on the case.

Pbnj

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 09:37 am EditMoveDeleteIP
This just came from the latest TSG newsletter Thought you guys might be interested....

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/roccoinspect1.html

Seamonkey

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 09:49 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I just came to post TSG link from their email but I see that several of you have beat me to the punch..

So, I'll go back and read about Snoop drugging his stripping dancers and to see the newest mugshots of the Menendez boys.

Pamy

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:04 am EditMoveDeleteIP
BTW TSG will have a tvshow on Court TV next Wednesday, it looks good

Pbnj

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 12:19 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
oh how funny...I didn't read the thread, just popped in to post....sorry bout the redundancy. I haven't seen this show yet. I always forget it's on.

Pamy...you're right, the new TSG show looks interesting.

Yankee_In_Ca

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 01:07 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I freaking hate this show. OK, maybe hate's too strong a word, but I don't like it. One. Bit.

But I think I've said that before! :)

In any case, when scanning the entertainment press today for work, I came across some articles that I thought funny/interesting:

Here's my personal fave, from the trade newspaper Ad Age:
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=38473

Here's another, with interview from Topher:
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/2977.htm

And here's some coverage of the health code violations:
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/3038.htm

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/108511p-97945c.html

I know, I'm being catty. And it's not usually my style. But oh, well ... sometimes cattiness can be fun.

Calgaryperson

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 03:36 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
OUCH FOR ROCCO!

Scorpiomoon

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 04:07 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
YIC: You always come up with the best links and the best dirt! I love it! Be as catty as you want, whenever you want! :)

So, who's up for a trip to NYC to visit Topher at East of Eighth, at 23rd Street and 8th Avenue?

Ocean_Islands

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 04:36 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Stay tuned for my new RealityNewsOnline article: "The Restaurant: Reality TV or Infomercial?" ... to appear within a few days (publishing delay; it was written last week).

Froggiegirl621

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 06:41 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
All I can say about Sunday nights show is POOR GIDEON! He seems so sweet, and when Rocco sent him home (AGAIN!), I just about cried!!!

Ocean_Islands

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 09:44 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Ok, here it is: The Restaurant: Reality TV or Infomercial? link

Kellirippa

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 12:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks for the link OceanI.

Can anybody tell me...is this show happening now, or was it taped months ago?

Scorpiomoon

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 01:21 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
It was taped months ago, Kelli.

Realfan

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 01:25 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Great article, Ocean! This sentence appears twice, though: "The product placement on this show is delirious and extreme – and not far from an infomercial." Maybe they can edit it?

Nathalia

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 02:39 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Kelli..I guess you don't remember Reege telling you he was just there a few weeks ago and that all the cameras were gone.

Pamy

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 06:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Great article Ocean!! I love your byline.

Kellirippa

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 06:25 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
LOL..Oh Ooops Nathalia, of course... if I don't see myself on the show, I don't know what I said...

Well, if the show was taped a long while ago, how is his restaurant actually doing now?

Gemma120in2002

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 08:17 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
The reviews from the restaraunt critics are current, so the place is still having problems. The Smoking Gun's report about the 6 health code violations was from an inspection this week.

I went to the TV guide online site to find a movie time, and there was a contest between Kyan Douglas (hairdresser from Queer Eye) and Rocco DiSpirito. The contest is to determine who's sexier. So far Kyan has beat Rocco 84% to 16%! Go to http://www.tvguide.com/
to put your vote in! I voted for Kyan.

Ocean_Islands

Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 04:34 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Actually the inspection was July 28.

Rslover

Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 10:05 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Sorry if these were already posted, but here is a review from a real restaurant critic and an article from Newsday.


August 6, 2003 --

Rocco's
12 E. 22nd St.
(between Broadway and Park Avenue South)
(212) 353-0500

ON "The Restaurant," Rocco DiSpirito warned his waiters not to dawdle: "This is not a three-hour dining experience," he said. So why does a meal at Rocco's feel like a lifetime?

For all its NBC-driven popularity, Rocco's is not ready for prime time. With any other chef, we'd spot it one star - maybe 11/2 - for a few decent dishes and a staff more good-humored than the whiners on TV.

But DiSpirito is a gifted young talent with three-star Union Pacific to his name. There is no excusing this loud, overpriced stinker that does for the reputation of southern Italian cooking what Britney Spears' Nyla did for southern American.

Mama DiSpirito and the chef/owner's various aunts and uncles supposedly run the hapless kitchen - an exploitative ploy to deflect honest criticism.

But many dishes would embarrass family-style Carmine's - and Rocco's costs a lot more. Beware $25 burnt octopus and wines that run to $125 served in the tiniest glasses in town.

At 36, DiSpirito clearly has lost interest in cooking - foisting the title of "executive chef" on his 78-year-old mother - in favor of making a fortune off his name.

It's a pity, because DiSpirito - despite moaning that he was once "ashamed" of being Italian - is at home in the cuisine. His collaboration at Tuscan with Jeffrey Chodorow (his partner at Rocco's), has been a smash with customers and critics.

Rocco's less resembles Tuscan than it does Chodorow's horrible Hudson Cafeteria. Its burlesque of Italian-American cooking affronts a dining scene revitalized by Beppe, Fiamma, Esca, L'Impero, Centolire and Acqua Pazza. Even touristy barns like Trattoria Dell'Arte make old-country magic with tomato sauce, olive oil and garlic.

Rocco's thumping, broken-record soundtrack forces waiters to lip-read orders. If you think it looks ugly on TV, wait till you see it in the flesh.

Globe lights recall old Jahn's ice cream parlors. A mural supposedly of Naples looks nothing like it. Is a plastic Virgin Mary over the bar a homage to Italian-American roots or a mockery?

Familiar faces from TV prowl the floor. But bad-arm Gideon and that dapper French fellow look lost without the cameras. Enormous Alex breaks from his rounds to burst into "Al-di-La."

Babes in "Sex and the City" garb mill at the bar, hoping to ogle DiSpirito, who's already taking Saturday nights off.

In this cuckoo atmosphere, Rocco's lays on a close replica of a Little Italy tour-bus feast, complete with tiny Italian flags stuck in mozzarella balls.

Grilled octopus must be left over from the famous kitchen fire: It arrives black as coal. Pricey entrees come with nothing but a roasted tomato, so a side like liquefied "soft" polenta costs $5 more.

Even the most ordinary Italian-American cooking exudes the love and effort that went into it. But Rocco's screams of shortcuts. Veal spiedini ($10), meant to be rolled, arrives in flat, burned squares. The worst clams oreganata ($10) I've ever had fall apart, victim of bread crumbs inadequately glued on.

Pasta is admirably al dente. But garlic-shy sauces separate into pasty globs and watery pools. "They don't know how to pull them together," my Italian-chef friend sneered of her feeble basil pesto.

Anchovy-rich linguine puttanesca ($14) made the grade, but bucatini with crab ($22) tasted and smelled fishy. Spaghetti carbonara ($15) was a gummy, flavorless joke.

You might run into decent salmon ($23), but an unadorned, undistinguished and near-cold cut of black sea bass set us back $28. Slabs of bulkily breaded veal parmigiana ($25) are heaped like rug remnants and taste like them when they cool.

Small successes like mama's meatballs ($10) and mozzarella-stuffed zucchini flowers ($10) are forgotten after desserts typified by Latex zeppole ($7).

The culprits behind this travesty - DiSpirito, Chodorow and a couple of guys named John Michael Polsenberg and Neil Faggen - should all be forced to make meatballs until the series is over - when Rocco's deserves to be, too.


Rocco's Cited On 6 Counts

By Sylvia Carter
STAFF WRITER

August 13, 2003

If Rocco's on 22nd were just another Manhattan restaurant, nobody would give a fig with prosciutto di Parma about a health code inspection that found six relatively minor violations.

But Rocco's, the setting for NBC's hit reality show, "The Restaurant" starring Rocco DiSpirito, airs nationwide each Sunday night until Aug. 24.

So there's been a media buzz about the citations of July 29: three moist wiping cloths that were not stored in sanitizing solution as required by law, "three live flies observed in rear kitchen food preparation area," a couple of metal spoons stored in a container of "greasy stagnant water," a few missing tiles in a nonfood area, an employee toilet that lacked a self-closing door and an employee women's room that did not have a covered wastebasket, as well as a few light bulbs that were not properly shielded in case of breakage.

"I take the health code very seriously," DiSpirito said yesterday. "We are working on some of these minor violations. I know exactly what has to be done, and we will do it."

DiSpirito refused to complain about being singled out, however, saying, "It's part and parcel of having the restaurant on television."

For restaurants less in the limelight, several opportunities to remedy violations are usually given before any media coverage. Only after repeated and serious violations can a restaurant be closed. This was the first inspection for Rocco's on 22nd.

A hearing on the charges will be held Oct. 22.

Scorpiomoon

Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 07:53 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
You know, for awhile, I thought this episode was actually going to be tolerable. Ha! I was wrong!

Ok, the product placement wasn't too bad tonight.

Pete's lame-ass comedy routine...making jokes about terrorist attacks to a crowd in NEW YORK? What the hell was he thinking? What an arrogant like weenie. No wonder he works for Rocco.

And what about those three idiots who made up the story about Tim almost getting killed--just so they didn't have to go back into work? How completely childish.

And then Rocco calls them in to talk--like he's God or something. Did anyone notice how the main cook guy told Rocco "Mama" ALMOST started to cry when she heard about Tim and then Rocco told the three she DID cry when she heard? What a hypocrite! And why did they even bother to come back? Couldn't one of them stop by to pick up their stuff and their pay cheques? Please!

Why couldn't Tony Bourdain take Rocco out to the back alley and kick his ass? I would have LOVED to see that!

And Tony Bourdain saying (if I heard it correctly) how a good cook shouldn't have to prostitute himself. Ha ha...just the fact Tony Bourdain made an appearance on a reality TV show could easily be considered "prostitution".

Also, that whole marriage proposal thing was such a farce! Remember the TV critic writing about it on the night she was there? The producers purposely edited it in to tie in with the waitress/cook romance storyline. What a joke.

I miss Topher!

Next week we get to see more female customers groping Rocco. Whoopee.