Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito is cooking up more TV drama. By now, we've all heard he's embroiled in a lawsuit with business partner Jeffery Chodorow, his Manhattan bistro's financial backer. That means his litigious strife will dominate Season 2 of NBC's The Restaurant, which starts April 19. Rocco's grumpy about it, but his distress is nothing compared to the hand-wringing of the show's Italian matriarch, Nicolina "Mama" DiSpirito.
"The stress of the litigation has definitely affected Mama," he says. "One of the benefits of opening this restaurant — and having her be involved — was that I got to see her more and work with her. One of the disadvantages of that is now she knows more about the business of doing all this stuff. People sue each other; it happens all the time. But for her, it's a monumental event.
"She thinks Jeffery's going to take our house away and put us in the street," DiSpirito continues with a chuckle. "She thinks he has this kind of power. Mama would probably love to give him a good smack in the face. She doesn't really get how it works, but other than that, she's great."
Aside from Rocco's 22nd Street staff, who else in the embattled restaurateur's life is affected by the legal tussle? "My girlfriend, Yvonne, does appear on the show and you'll see a lot of her," he says. "She was briefly [on in the first season]. She's a confidante. She's not necessarily experiencing it at the level that I am, because I kind of keep it from her. I tried not to share so much of it with her."
Before producer Mark Burnett decided this squabble would take over The Restaurant, what was Season 2 supposed to be about? DiSpirito sighs. "Well, I was in several production meetings. Some ideas went around and none of them included covering the legal battles," he gripes. "There was Mark the bartender who was supposed to be the cute guy falling in love with somebody. Mama was gonna develop into more of a business partner, someone I could confide in more everyday. This [lawsuit] was never mentioned. I did not think it was going to be part of the second season, and I'm still shocked that it is."
With litigation ongoing, will the drama be resolved during the course of six episodes or will viewers be left hanging? "I don't think I'm at liberty to say how it ends," DiSpirito says. "NBC can do whatever they want to do. I'm essentially powerless in this whole thing."
