"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 1

[GordonCooks]

What was Rocco's other place besides UP ? I heard him state that Rocco's is his 3rd restaurant.

[Savour Chef]

What was Rocco's other place besides UP ? I heard him state that Rocco's is his 3rd restaurant.

He opened up Dava Restaurant in midtown Manhattan in '95.....and closed it within 6 months.

[mckayinutah]

Did anyone else catch the episode of "The Restaurant" last night on NBC about Rocco Dispirito's new venture? What an eye opener for anyone even considering opening up there own place (although they did seem to be doing some things out of order - booking an apperance on the radio without even having a location picked out?) Is this the norm for opening a restaurant or just a rare situation? I saw the episode on Food Netwook in which they showed the creation of Morimoto in Philadelphia. It seems getting things done when they are supposed to be done is a problem. Next week's preview looked VERY interesting, ( a fire on the line and a lot of cursing by Rocco) I can't wait to see it.

Mckay

[SobaAddict70]

One wonders if David Ruggerio will be the next chef to open his own reality-based TV show.

It's certainly a possibility, eh?

Soba

[Steveny]

The 3rd restaurant that is being mentioned is "Tuscan" which is owned by Jeffery Chodorow, Rocco's financier. Rocco was a consultant in that one, and is on its payroll now. I doubt he shows up there much. Also doubt he shows up at Union Pacific...or even at Rocco's these days. Too busy doing guest appearances and interviews.

How about that Coors? Ridiculous, in my opinion! And yes, the clothes may have been expensive, but not too attractive. This is all pretty bad TV. Have we run out of real celebrities? And, what is the point of going to any of Rocco's restaurants when chances are he won't even be cooking? I'd much rather go to a Batali restaurant for some real Italian food without the side of hype.

[tommy]

I suppose it will come, but truthfully, Rocco driving around with one hand on the wheel and the other on his mobile phone left me wondering about the attitude towards safety in the kitchen.

huh? i'm not seeing the connection.

call me a grump old man, but this might very well be one place where i hate the service staff long before ever having them serve me. that might not be good for them, or me.

[MsRamsey]

I expected better from NBC!!

[Nick]

Susie and I watched it last night. It was okay... but they sure did lean on the Coors shots. Cases and cases and cases going in. How many people buy Coors when they eat at the place? Or maybe they pass it out free. I dug the building owner (manager?) coming around. Straightest dude in the whole thing. Always brought a smile to my face when he showed up. We'll watch it next week. Is the fire staged?

[cakewalk]

It was such a strange show in many ways. I enjoyed it, but I kept wondering what they were really trying to do in the long run. Was there a goal here? Besides entertainment, that is (yes, it was entertaining).

The Pink Panther theme whenever the landlord showed up was the cleverest part, I don't think anything else matched that. His mother annoyed me (sorry, Rocco). Imagine introducing yourself to a bunch of people your never saw before with first words being, "I love all of you." Oh, puke. And in keeping with this sort of thing, I loved the scene where the waiter said he wasn't a people person and Rocco said, great, you're hired. Much too much "love" floating around that place.

I don't watch much reality TV (to say the least), but is it always geared for people who have attention spans of 20 seconds max? It made me hyper, and if I ever went to the restaurant I'd wonder if the waiter would give me the menu, grab it away from me in three seconds expecting my order, then throw my food down before me, expect me to finish it in ten seconds flat and then hustle me out the door? There was no flow to anything, just abrupt jumps from one thing to the next. I can understand that building and opening a restaurant might necessitate such abruptness, but I got the feeling that the meal would also be that way. I can't imagine that any restaurant owner would want to push that feeling about his restaurant.

Anyway, the show was enjoyable as a show. But it didn't make me want to go to the restaurant.

[elfin]

Watched the first half. HATED IT! Hated him-what a whiner. Was planning to watch the remainder but my baby needed a diaper change. I was laughing to myself that I would rather change her diaper than watch this guy bitch all the time (maybe the second half was better...). Will watch next week to see if he is different in the kitchen.

[Coop]

I think Rocco looks fabulous. Rocco pumping gas, Rocco drinking Coors, Rocco in profile talking on his cell phone, Rocco pretending to be interviewing people, Rocco kissing Katie Couric, Rocco kissing his mommy, Rocco kissing Al Roker, did I mention Rocco pumping gas?

Hey what about Rocco making some food? Is it too much to ask? BTW there is nothing I hate more than watching wait staff argue, why would I want to watch that on TV.

Why not blend this show with fear factor and Rocco could feed the people the fetal duck eggs and live larva.

Imagine I used to have some respect for this guy!

[Lisa1349]

Also note the Mitsubishi presence, Coors, AMEX, Motorola, Baldor, and the party rental place.

I recognized one of my former bosses in the kitchen there. Shock! The only other person who really got named was the kitchen manager besides Rocco, so I don't know what Tony Acinapura's job is there. He was at Terrance Brennan's Seafood and Chophouse, and Blue Ribbon Sushi before that. Hmm.

Wonder what the NYT review will say? They WILL be there! I wonder if Grimes will be shown there?

Lisa

[Sparkitus]

Hey, I just popped in here to this thread, but let me disavow some mistaken notions: the restaurant is real. They did it in 7 weeks (it was part of the deal). Anyone can go there (if you can get a reservation). It was not a "set" it is in fact in the space where Commune used to be on 22nd street. Product placement was not an accident (Coors, Pellegrino, et al).

What will be interesting, I'm sure, is now that the cameras are gone, the business of running a restaurant becomes real - how will it go?

[MatthewB]

I was actually hoping against hope that this show would have something going for it. (Well, it does have one thing going for it--it will provide momentum for Rocco's career. Good for him.)

However, the show itself has as much intelligence & depth as does Ann Coulter.

[Elizabeth_11]

I did not catch the show unfortunately, but I read a write-up about it in the Chicago Tribune last week. I guess there are actually scenes in which Rocco had to re-dub in the studio what he was saying, i.e., replacing the word "beers" with "Coors". I mean, come on! *gag*

Edited July 21, 2003 by Elizabeth_11 (log)

[tommy]

How many people buy Coors when they eat at the place?

i gotta think it was for the construction workers.

[bloviatrix]

There may be one good thing that comes out of this show - it will be a reflection of how much work goes into running a restaurant, that it is in no way glamorous -- it's hot, exhausting, demanding, and tiring work.

It used to be that everyone had the fantasy that they would open a quaint B&B in the country. Now, it's to open a restaurant. If this show shatters the unrealistic dreams of some people, it will have done its job.

[tan319]

Yes, but at the end of the day, this has to be a real restaurant after the 6 episodes are over.

Last Friday at dinner time the sign in the window read "closed." I never see anyone in this place.

Uh-ohh...

Edit:

Busheye; don't miss Union Pacific. It's a great place and you'll have a great meal.

Savuer Chef: I'm with you. Why everyone is getting this wound up over Rocco doing this is a bit of a mystery. It's not like he pulled an Emeril and it's a show with him and his mom in a rowhouse in Queens arguing about "why you wannaa do-a that-a fusion-a food, Rocco?".

It's a bold move, one I don't know if I would have had the balls to do but I'm waiting for the rest of it.

Re: David Ruggerio: will that show feature some 'Law & Order' elements to it?

Edited July 21, 2003 by tan319 (log)

[MatthewB]

If this show shatters the unrealistic dreams of some people, it will have done its job.

I was thinking the same thing this morning.

But then I thought about the near complete unreality of this show. I'd rather people meet their dreams within some reality rather than in simulacra.

[tommy]

Yes, but at the end of the day, this has to be a real restaurant after the 6 episodes are over.

Last Friday at dinner time the sign in the window read "closed." I never see anyone in this place.

Uh-ohh...

grimes' article in the NY Times yesterday didn't mention that.

[mrs.inkling]

OK, I'm not in the food business -- I love cooking at home and write about restaurants for my local newspaper, but that's it -- so my perspective is different than that of many other people who have posted here.

That said ... I enjoyed the show. I don't watch reality shows, but I know enough about them to take them with a grain of salt. So, I watched last night knowing not everything is totally accurate and some stuff was clearly done for TV purposes, and thought it was interesting. I'll watch it again, even with all the heavy-handed product endorsements.

I do agree with two observations pointed out repeatedly here:

1) Rocco whining at the beginning got old, and as a former PR person, it was sooo nice to see the PR guy tell him to stop moping and get to work.

2) The building manager's Pink Panther visits were the best part of the show.

[rickster]

Last Friday at dinner time the sign in the window read "closed." I never see anyone in this place.

I can't imagine this place would close prior to the show going on air with all the free publicity they're going to get.

[abbeynormal]

I can't imagine this place would close prior to the show going on air with all the free publicity they're going to get.

Nor can I, but the only time I saw real activity around the place was when the show was in production. I'll look again today when I leave the office.

[Holly Moore]

One of my businesses was recently hired to put on a one hour reality type show for the History Channel. We were only putting participants through military POW interrogation, so it was not as stressful as opening a restaurant. But it gave me insight as to how real "reality TV" is.

My observations:

1. Even though our cadre was very serious about it, the participants (prisoners) were not. The cameras being there made it make believe. It took a long time before the reality seemed to sink in. Intimidation and control that normally takes minutes to achieve took hours. I suspect it is the same with "The Restaurant." The management are totally serious. The staff is still giddy. It will probably become much more real for them in the next episode when the pressure sinks in.

2. We've been filmed a few times. The directors and producers always promise "we won't be in the way and we won't disrupt your flow." Yeah, right. Anytime we wanted to do anything we had to track down the director, have him locate a free camera and sound crew (there were three on our shoot and we were running 24 hours a day). Until they showed up, we had to wait. Sometimes we did retakes because they missed a shot. I'd say we were operating at about 60 percent or our regular productivity, often less than that.

3. Everything has to be sanitized for the network. Things get edited and re-edited. Things get dropped for not being P.C. or for otherwise being controversial. (Geez, our staff couldn't even slap the prisoners ) What you end up with is a bland version of reality.

[GordonCooks]

The 3rd restaurant that is being mentioned is "Tuscan" which is owned by Jeffery Chodorow, Rocco's financier.  Rocco was a consultant in that one, and is on its payroll now.

I thought it was going to be called "Asia de Campoleone"