On a recent stroll through Ft. Greene, Gothamist stopped in for a bite at the oft-touted iCi, where a charming garden matches a neighborhoodly interior full of cozying white brick walls and a working fireplace. Opened by husband-and-wife, Laurent and Catherine Saillard in 2004 (he the (in)famous former manager from Rocco's, featured on The Restaurant), iCi, like other purveyors taking advantage of the city's greenmarkets boasts an ever-changing menu with a lot to get......

When Gothamist first heard that the reality-TV-based infamy that was Rocco's (a.k.a. NBC's "The Restaurant") would be replaced by a Brazilian-themed "Brasserio," we chuckled. Seemed like quite a random departure from the previous incarnation of upscale-yet-kitschy Italian Americana. But then again, wasn't that the point? To try to make people forget the unforgettable bickering and lawsuits that led chef Rocco DiSpirito and restauranteur vet Jeffrey Chodorow to split? Chodorow's long, successful history in the unvelievably......

The other shoe has finally dropped for Rocco DiSpirito. The celebrity chef who sold his soul for the NBC reality series "The Restaurant" has now lost not only the restaurant that bears his name, but the restaurant that made it. The Times reports that Union Pacific, where Rocco burst onto the New York restaurant scene to great acclaim in 1997, is closing down at the end of this year, and that Rocco himself is no......

Could the secret ingredient to the meatballs from Nicolina DiSpirito actually have been tears?!? In videotaped testimony yesterday, Rocco DiSpirito's former manager Lon Rosen said that Jeffrey Chodorow, the owner, would make Mrs. DiSpirito cry, "She'd break down crying that Jeffrey was saying terrible things about her son." The lawsuit stems over a fight for control over Rocco's, the subject of the NBC reality show, 'The Restaurant". DiSpirito says he owns half of the restaurant......

Biting the hand that fed him, Rocco DiSpirito, humiliated last month when business partner Jeffrey Chodorow sued him because Rocco's (the 22nd realitys show AND restaurant) was not a critical or financial success, filed a civil lawsuit against Chodorow's company, China Grill Management. The Times reports that within the 38 page civil suit, the offenses to DiSpirito included changing the locks on the restaurant and not giving him a key and not paying 79 year-old......

Gothamist doesn't think news of angry investors of Rocco DiSpirito's restaurant, Rocco's on 22nd, is surprising. What's surprising is that it took them so long to figure it out. Jeffrey Chodorow and his China Grill Management group filed a law suit against DiSpirito, stating, "The Restaurant, under DiSpirito's management, has not been the financial or critical success that the CG parties expected. The quality of the food and service has been widely criticized." Additionally, Rocco's......

Clyde Haberman's Times column earlier this week looked at a few reality show ideas for NY, what with The Restaurant and tonight's premiere of The Apprentice. Some are very apt: "The Drug Store" would send contestants into Duane Reade outlets in a search for a clerk who is both pleasant and knowledgeable. "Death Wish": New Yorkers step off the curb with the light but without looking in both directions. Their goal is to cross the......

It's getting a little too easy to point out some of the issues with The Restaurant, but since the Post and the Restaurant are going to town on the crass product placement, we'd be remiss not to weigh in as well. The Post says that Coors, American Express Open, and Mitsubishi paid $200,000 for each advertister slot, plus the article details how Rocco got a $350,000 fee for the series. One restaurant insider tells......

Blatant product placements be damned, Gothamist is hooked on The Restaurant, as it feeds into our NY food obsessions. The second episode revolved around both the "soft" and official opening nights of Rocco's, with just the right amount of drama (fire; mix of hardworking and lazy servers; annoying customers), Mama, and Rocco looking cute. And indeed, the ratings improved this past Sunday, winning its timeslot for the night. As luck would have it, we found......

The knives are out! Finally, reviews of Rocco's from the Times' Williams Grimes (well, a Diner's Journal review, not a starred review) and Daily News' Pascale Le Draoulec. Grimes calls the menu an "Italian-American hit parade with feeling" and overall finds the place "very straightforward, two-fisted and uncomplicated," wondering "why on earth did they have all that trouble on opening night?" Le Draoulec loves the rabbit cacciatore and "alarmingly tender" chicken under a brick, but......

Last night, Rocco DiSpirito's reality show, The Restaurant, premiered and the Times' food critic William Grimes reviewed the show in the weekend's Arts & Leisure section. (Gothamist is curious if one of the TV critics Alessandra Stanley or Julie Salomon or even Caryn James - who we haven't seen much of lately - will be reviewing Rocco's On 22nd Street, the restaurant, as a restaurant then?) Biff loves the "thrilling" glimpse into what goes......