Rocco DiSpirito is an iconic Italian-American New York City Chef,television personality, and highly acclaimed author of fourteen cookbooks, including five New York Times bestsellers. He received the James Beard Award for his first cookbook, Flavor and over the years has garnered endless accolades as a highly respected chef, whose level of success, in and out of the kitchen, is matched by few others.

His culinary foundation was laid early on by his mother, Nicolina, his first teacher, who always cooked with fresh ingredients. At the prodigal age of sixteen Rocco began his formal studies at the Culinary Institute of America and trained across the pond at LeJardin des Cygne in France with Dominique Cecillon and Gary Kunz.

He was named Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chef and was the first to appear on Gourmet magazine’s cover as America’s Most Exciting Young Chef. His three-star restaurant Union Pacific —where Ruth Reichl, in her famous New York Times review, said she “moaned as she ate”—was a culinary landmark for many years. Rocco appears on numerous television shows and is launching his latest cookbook, Everyday Delicious. Chef DiSpirito has starred on numerous television shows. Most recently, he received two stars from the New York Times as chef of the critically acclaimed Standard Grill in New York City.