BY CONSTANCE RUHOLL
Award-winning and celebrated chef Rocco Dispirito will devote his talents to Bravo's new series, Rocco's Dinner Party, where three chefs will compete for the favor of Dispirito and his handpicked celebrity guests for a prize of $20,000. During a recent conference call, Dispirito discussed several different topics.
—On where the idea for the show came from: "You know, I love to entertain. I love cooking for people. To this day, one of my favorite things to do is to take out a cutting board, chop some onions, talk to my friends, put something together, bring it to the table and enjoy that moment—that really human, wonderful connection that you get when you sit at a table and you eat and drink, because there's something about the intimacy of a table that breaks down barriers. And people let their guard down, they talk, they open up and you can really connect. "
—On whether he has been thinking about finding an opportunity to be a head judge on a cooking competition since he guest-judged on Top Chef: "I loved being on Top Chef. They do such a good job of balancing-honoring the craft of cooking while making great entertainment for television. Bravo and I have been looking for a project that we could work on together and the idea does come from my real fondness for entertaining at home."
—On what kind of celebrities audience members can look forward to seeing: "In the first episode there's Bryan Batt from Mad Men, Michael Kenneth Williams from Boardwalk Empire and Christine Ebersole. Bill McCuddy is the movie reviewer for Forbes.com; Marcus Samuelsson, of course, who won Top Chef Masters, season two; and Kelly Choi hosted Top Chef Masters—and that's just the first episode. It goes on to include Raven-Symone, Cat Deeley, Liza Minnelli, Marvin Hamlisch, Sandra Bernhard, Alan Cumming and about four to five other people. It's really an amazing group of people."
—On how his show will differ from the other cooking programs: "It couldn't be more different from every other cooking show out there. It is the only one on television that celebrates why we cook, not just how we cook. What most culinary competitions do is focus on the how, the culinary part of cooking and the technique, the ingredients, the passion of the chefs, and this show is entirely focused on why we get together and cook. So it's really about balancing their desire to impress people with their skills versus their ability to make people happy, their ability to make decisions that produce a great time. Those are two very different skill sets and this is the only show that focuses on both."
—On the caliber of the chefs on the show (home cooks versus executive chefs, etc.): "We have everything from professional chefs who are currently running restaurants in big cities in America to assistant chefs, chefs who are just starting out, people who are running catering businesses out of their home. We have one person who is a food blogger by night and a trader by day. So it's kind of a broad spectrum. It's not limited in too many ways."
—On the different rounds during the competition: "There is a signature-dish challenge and that is where I eliminate the first chef, and then the second round or final round is a menu round. For the menu round the guests go from one dinner party to the next, so they are consecutive competing dinner parties. The menu is decided beforehand, the chefs and I consult on the menu and then they go shopping. By the time they get back and they are ready to serve, the guests arrive and usually the chefs meet one or two of the guests."
—On how he feels about not being in the kitchen: "It's a little weird. I can be completely candid with you and say it's a little weird. But it is definitely good for me to take a little off my plate. It is hard enough to host a party and the fact that the show worked out where I didn't have to do all the cooking works out just perfectly. This is probably the best show-hosting job on television. I get to host six friends for dinner, other people do the cooking and there's no check at the end, so I'm pretty happy with it."
Bravo's new show, Rocco's Dinner party, premieres Wed., June 15, at 11 p.m. and moves to Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. June 22.
