{"id":214630,"date":"2026-04-29T21:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T21:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214630\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T21:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T21:40:12","slug":"celeb-chef-rocco-dispirito-makes-a-triumphant-return-to-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214630\/","title":{"rendered":"Celeb chef Rocco DiSpirito makes a triumphant return to NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rocco DiSpirito is back with his first Big Apple restaurant in six years \u00a0\u2014 and it\u2019s about time.<\/p>\n

Bar Rocco (32 W. 48th St.) is a proudly\u00a0old-school Italian American restaurant<\/a> on the Kimpton Era Hotel\u2019s second floor. It\u2019s plain wonderful,\u00a0thanks to DiSpirito\u2019s\u00a0skills, which first wowed the city<\/a> at French-American Union Pacific in the late 1990s. It also makes use of better ingredients than ordinary red-sauce places.<\/p>\n

DiSpirito\u2019s last gig in the city<\/a> was at the Standard Grill. He was there for barely two years before Covid-19 struck in 2020. He\u2019s been all over the map since then with more books (bringing the total to fifteen) and TV appearances (too many even for AI to keep track of). But, except for his summer Pop-Up by Rocco in Southampton, his hands-on magic has been sorely missing.<\/p>\n

Rocco DiSpirito has made a delicious return to NYC. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a big difference between a \u201ccelebrity chef\u201d and an actual chef. Despite being charming and telegenic \u2014 and having a season of \u201cDancing with the Stars\u201d on his resume \u2014 DiSpirito is the very much the latter. He\u2019s in the kitchen every day at the new spot, and it shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York is where I started and it\u2019s where I learned how people actually want to eat,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cBar Rocco is designed to feel personal, but also a place you can come back to any time and trust.<\/p>\n

The restaurant, which boasts a 108-seat dining room, is one of a quartet of venues in the new hotel operated by restaurant group Apicii. Hotel developer Extell \u201cspent a lot of money,\u201d DiSpirito marveled, on the mosaic floor, wood-paneled walls,\u00a0comfortable leather banquettes and chairs and an eye-popping, scarlet-tone ceramic bar. Tall windows face Rockefeller Center but views of an office building\u00a0and the Nintendo store are less than panoramic.<\/p>\n

Bar Rocco is a proudly\u00a0old-school Italian American restaurant within the Kimpton Era Hotel. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n

The crowd changes to the whims of weather and hotel occupancy\u00a0\u2014 a mix of gourmands, devoted
DiSpirito followers and tourists. All discover a home-style Italian American menu that proudly stands up for itself amidst\u00a0Midtown\u2019s more esoteric offerings.<\/p>\n

Forget any memories you might have of DiSpirito\u2019s early aughts televised Italian fiasco<\/a>, \u201cThe Restaurant.\u201d I called the 22nd Street spot a \u201cburlesque\u201d of the real thing.<\/p>\n

Here, \u201cMama\u2019s Meatballs\u201d ($20) based on DiSpirito\u2019s late mom\u2019s recipe are sinfully good. Beef, pork and veal are blended in a blender with olive oil, chicken stock, parsley, onions and garlic. The result, DiSpirito said, is \u201ca liquid slurry that makes them very tender.\u201d Peperoncino-sparked\u00a0tomato sauce\u00a0lends\u00a0a\u00a0fiery counterpoint. In a metropolis full\u00a0of preening meatballs, they might be the best I\u2019ve had. <\/p>\n

Attention to detail is evident in the simplest dishes.\u00a0Umami-rich Caesar salad ($19) uses crisp leaves of red and green little gem lettuce, more fun on the tongue than standard romaine. They\u2019re ideal platforms for 18-month aged Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and whole anchovies.<\/p>\n

Mama\u2019s Meatballs rank among the best in the city. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n

Sauteed salmon in chicory agro dolce ($35), ordered medium-rare, emerged a perfect shade of pink under crisp skin. But the menu\u2019s strongest suit is DiSpirito\u2019s lovingly crafted pasta.<\/p>\n

Wide-tube-shaped paccheri ($29) made with Italian semolina and basil pesto ascended to heaven with a half-dozen Argentine red shrimp \u2014 plump, sweet and without a trace of iodine. The chef attributed their buttery quality to the \u00a0\u201chigh fat content\u201d they need to survive the icy waters off the south Argentine coast, \u201cbasically the Arctic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSunday gravy\u201d lasagna ($32) is hearty and satisfying with fresh pasta layers, three types of cheese and both both broken meatballs and Italian sausage bet. <\/p>\n

Salmon was perfectly cooked. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n

The menu\u2019s pastas, including paccheri with shrimp, are especially strong. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n

Burgers are often\u00a0afterthoughts in Italian restaurants, so the happiest surprise was the \u201cRocco\u2019s Big Italian\u201d ($28) \u2014 a juice-oozing,\u00a0aged-Wagyu beef blend\u00a0from Pat LaFrieda topped with provolone and \u00a0 Dijon vinaigrette on a hearty brioche bun. Its multi-layered flavors measure up to the\u00a0multiply-textured mouth feel.<\/p>\n

Tiramisu and a multi-layered sundae are among the highlights of the crowd-pleasing desserts \u2014 if you have room after everything else.<\/p>\n

The burger is more than an afterthought. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n

The big question is: how long will Bar Rocco truly be Rocco DiSpirito\u2019s, given his past wandering ways?<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve been here for every service since we opened,\u201d he told me. Let\u2019s hope he\u2019s there for many more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rocco DiSpirito is back with his first Big Apple restaurant in six years \u00a0\u2014 and it\u2019s about time.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[289,6628,2931,232,360,9,56,63,65,64,821],"class_list":["post-214630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-food-drink","tag-food-network","tag-italian-food","tag-lifestyle","tag-midtown","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-restaurants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}