"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 1

[Suzanne F]

So. Is it over now? Can we go back to discussing important topics, like Tommy's band t-shirts?

[Jaymes]

Rocco was invited to the VMAs.  He was the "green room caterer".  MTV's site has pictures from it ... one referring to his girlfriend as "Yet another of Rocco DiSpirito's women".  Most of the rest of the pictures are the empty room.  Guess that word has even gotten out to the music world that the food is cold.

puhleaze, shug.....cold food in the MTV green room? All that is to be consumed at the VMAs is found in the loo, or Courtney Love's purse.

Funny, and probably spot on.

[TrishCT]

<a href='http://java script: popFlip('/onair/vma/2003/behind_the_vmas/VMA_makeover/flipbooks/green_room/')' target='_blank'>Green Room Photos</a> - pretty pathetic. You'd think they'd have a picture of one celebrity eating something. The shots look like they were taken just as the room was finished being set up.

Am I the only one who can't get this link to do its thang..?

[Rachel Perlow]

Try this one, then page down to click for the "Green Room Photos."

[tommy]

Try this one, then page down to click for the "Green Room Photos."

oh my. that decor is very, um, NY.

[TrishCT]

Thanks for the link Rachel...

"Yo where the booze at" was that you Tommy...?

[tommy]

"Yo where the booze at" was that you Tommy...?

huh? probably not. i already know where the booze at.

[Raynickben]

Try this one, then page down to click for the "Green Room Photos."

Those are the most pointless photos. My 5 year old can take more meaningful pictures.

[Mark Sommelier]

The photo of "oysters" looks suspiciously like clams to me.

[2shoes]

Should the thread's name be change from "the Restaurant..." to "we bash Rocco when ever we see him - we're still miffed." ????

[SAMMY DRUMM]

SOUNDS DAMN GOOD TO WHO'S BUYIN' DINNER!!!

[Callipygos]

Because Confession is good for the soul...

My SO and I were at dinner late last night at a little place on the Lower East Side that just opened a couple weeks ago. Now -- he tuned into THE RESTAURANT out of curiousity because he works in the business, and I tuned in out of curiousity because he works in the business (and because I'm a geek).

Anyway -- it's about 12:30 or 1 a.m., and we're sitting and enjoying our meals and the general ambiance of the place. We're talking, and suddenly out of the corner of my eye I see someone enter the place that looks familiar. I turn to get a better look -- and then grab my guy's arm and point.

Because it is LAURENT that has just walked in.

What I wish to confess is that, as soon as we realized who it was, we both turned into giggling, geeked-out dorky fans and had to restrain ourselves from jumping up and getting his autograph.

Oh dear.

[Holly Moore]

Beware.

"The Restaurant" returns in reruns. Tuesday September 16, 9 PM east coast time, on Bravo -

[jhlurie]

Beware.

"The Restaurant" returns in reruns. Tuesday September 16, 9 PM east coast time, on Bravo -

And this is the SAME Bravo who is currently airing a show about how fake Reality Shows are?

One other thing, although it only loosely has to do with Rocco and The Restaurant...

The follow-up to the Restaurant? Will be... "The Casino".

Edited September 10, 2003 by jhlurie (log)

[NHCountryGirl]

Rocco's on the cover of Sept 16th Restaurant Hospitality magazine looking all smiles and smug!

The Headline, "ROCCO"s TV DINNER - Did The Restaurant distort reality?"

The article doesn't really say much that hasn't already been said here.

But the Editor's Letter gives a page to questioning the whole deal and asking for reader's opinions.

Telling excerpt "I've met Rocco a number of times and he's a great guy. ...But he's done a disservice to himself and the indsustry as a whole through this horrible portrayal of how a restaurant operates."

Think most everyone on egullet will second that statement?!?

[Mark Sommelier]

NHCountrygirl said:

"Telling excerpt "I've met Rocco a number of times and he's a great guy. ...But he's done a disservice to himself and the indsustry as a whole through this horrible portrayal of how a restaurant operates."

Think most everyone on egullet will second that statement?!? "

Yes and yes.

[tommy]

how can anyone think that he's done a "disservice" to the industry as a whole? it's a fucking TV show for god's sake. anyone who can't see that doesn't know enough to matter. if you want to know how a restaurant runs, go to a restaurant, get to know the cooks, managers, bartenders, servers, etc. you'll get the idea soon enough.

however, i think just about everyone agrees that he wasn't portrayed in the best light, and perhaps did indeed do himself a disservice. although you all know what they say about publicity. at least i hope you do.

Edited September 12, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Bothameboutasteak?]

how can anyone think that he's done a "disservice" to the industry as a whole?  it's a fucking TV show for god's sake.  anyone who can't see that doesn't know enough to matter.  if you want to know how a restaurant runs, go to a restaurant, get to know the cooks, managers, bartenders, servers, etc.  you'll get the idea soon enough.

however, i think just about everyone agrees that he wasn't portrayed in the best light, and perhaps did indeed do himself a disservice.  although you all know what they say about publicity.  at least i hope you do.

Tommy, I am so curious as to why you tiresomely defend Rocco Dispirito. You are the only remaining deluded person in the world. He wasn't "portrayed" any way....he Is a huge a**hole. Take it from all who have worked for the guy and have posted here. If I didn't know better, I would suspect that you either are him, or are close to him. And if you are harboring a little crush, well his boy toy, Uzay Toomer, has all those positions filled already.

[tommy]

that was enlightening. thanks.

[TrishCT]

If I didn't know better, I would suspect that you either are him, or are close to him....

And who exactly are you Bothameaboutyadayada? I don't have it in me to flip 20 pages back...

[NHCountryGirl]

Seems to me he was a cook at The Restaurant who helped shed some light on some of the goings on (memory recall - didn't fact check)?

[Callipygos]

Tommy, I am so curious as to why you tiresomely defend Rocco Dispirito.

I don't think Tommy is defending Rocco so much as he's trying to put some perspective on the restaurant industry as a whole.

Rocco's an asshat, yes, but the effect of Rocco being an asshat is not going to bring about the entire decline of Western Civilization. That's all.

[mcdowell]

And Mario weighs in, saying that he thought "The Restaurant," the show about young cook Rocco DiSpirito, had been "arrogant," and added, "Bobby Flay has to love Rocco DiSpirito, because he is no longer the most despised chef in town." (half-way down the page)

[TrishCT]

And Mario weighs in, saying  that he thought "The Restaurant," the show about young cook Rocco DiSpirito, had been "arrogant," and added, "Bobby Flay has to love Rocco DiSpirito, because he is no longer the most despised chef in town."   (half-way down the page)

Just one more reason to love Mario...

[bloviatrix]

William Grimes reviews Rocco's on 22nd St in today's Times.

It's pretty good. Early on, this was not so. The squishy pasta and bumbling service that enchanted viewers lived on for a while after the cameras left. But as the more hopeless members of the team departed, the restaurant got down to the actual work of preparing and serving food, and at the moment most of it is more than respectable.