What's Cookin' at AMC
Chef Rocco DiSpirito: Where Is He Now? At AMC!

In deciding what culinary delights to feature on his part of the American Magazine Conference menu, Rocco DiSpirito says he selected tasty treats from his fourth cookbook, Rocco's Real-Life Recipes (to be published in November by Meredith Books): seared and sliced tuna with radishes and snow peas; sweet and sticky coconut shrimp; sausage, peppers and tomatoes with fennel seeds; and grilled chicken breast with lemon, pea and mint potatoes. 

DiSpirito joins Cooking Lights Billy Strynkowski and Martha Stewart Livings Lucinda Scala Quinn in cooking for AMC attendees during the Monday Night Feast on October 29.
  
Chefs seem to be virtually ubiquitous nowadaysseen on TV shows like Bravo's Top Chef (where Rocco DiSpirito is a guest judge) and Fox's Hell's Kitchen; in major films, and even in a live Paula Dees cooking show this fall at Caesars Palace in Atlantic City.

DiSpirito has been additionally visible in TV spots and on the web, calling attention to Bertolli's "What's Your Med Style?" cooking contest, whose winner will star on Bravotv.com. "The what'syourmedstyle.com site has had several hundred thousand page views so far, with several hundred Mediterranean-style submissions now on the website," he says. It hasn't been decided whether the winning chef's online appearance will be a onetime shot or a series of segments, he adds.

A couple of years ago, DiSpirito was perhaps the first chef to enter reality TV via The Restaurant on NBC. Created by Mark Burnett of "Survivor" fame, that series ended its second season in 2004, when Rocco's restaurant on 22nd Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan also closeda victim of legal battles between DiSpirito and financier Jeffrey Chodorow.

Looking back on that experience, DiSpirito observes, "One element was incredibly good for me. Another element was incredibly bad for me. But I learned a lot about myself and evolved as a person."

Despite all the current hype surrounding chefs, DiSpirito disputes the notion that chefs have suddenly become hot properties. In his view, "That's been the case for 20 years, although every couple of years it seems to be looked at as a hot trend again. Chefs are embedded in our national culture. They represent an ideal of a lifestyle many people want. Because people can read their books and eat in their restaurants, they seem more accessible than other celebrities. Chefs represent a dream, a goalto become a foodie."
       
When it comes to food and movies, only one film comes to mind, Rocco maintains: "The opening scene of Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. It's an incredible sequence, beautifully shot with incredible food."
   
In a recent AP interview, fellow chef Anthony Bourdain talked about foods that could be called incredible for entirely different reasons. Among the most bizarre foods he's eaten were wart hog in Africa, raw seal in Quebec and fermented shark in Iceland. "I haven't gotten that crazy," says DiSpirito, "but I did eat balut, fertilized duck egg, in the Philippines. It's very good at curing drunkenness."

Cooking up a multifaceted career

DiSpirito considers himself lucky to have enjoyed a career as a chef because it has given him the opportunity to explore so many others fields as well. "As a chef, I can do a lotbe a writer, perform on television, manufacture products"referring to his having written cookbooks and the weekly "Comfort Me with Food" column for Jim Cramer's TheStreet.com, to his TV and cable work and Rocco Cookware line.

"There's not much I've missed...rock star, maybe," he says with a chuckle. "Or guitar hero. Or diving."
   
Besides cooking, his biggest passion lately is running triathlons. Since becoming a triathlete last year, DiSpirito says, he has competed in seven such events. Next up: a St. Croix triathlon in May 2008. "No question, it's a lot easier to be healthy now than 20 years ago, with the choice of foods, diets, exercise."   

That's not to say he's never tempted. His guilty pleasures, he reveals, include candy bars Snickers and Twix, as well as "greasy pizza by the slice," not to mention the Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink.

It looks like AMC attendees will be leaving Boca with not only their appetites sated but their cooking knowledge given a dash of spice. "I think we are giving away cookbooks" at the event, he says. "Rocco's Real-Life Recipes," he points out, is divided by protein, starting with beef, chicken and porkwhat he describes as "the holy trinity of protein in America." They're followed by recipes built around lamb, tuna and salmon.

To DiSpirito, presentation does not rank as highly as one might expect. "I tell people not to worry about presentation. In order of importance, I'd put that No. 2, 3 or 4. Most important is that you're cooking because you want the enjoyment of company. Then, the food should taste good. If it tastes good, it usually looks good as well."

And a major cooking no-no? "Not tasting your food. The palate is a very important cooking tool. You need to trust it. Serving food without first tasting it is like, oh, selling a car you've never driven."

Based on that advice and another look at his menu, it looks like one word sums up what to expect from Rocco DiSpirito's AMC offerings: delicioso.

Meet Chef Rocco at AMC. Click here to register now.