• Ex-'Restaurant' star Rocco DiSpirito returning in 'Rocco to the Rescue'

  March 10, 2008
  Former The Restaurant star Rocco DiSpirito is gearing up for a return to the kitchen via Rocco to the Rescue, a new A&E reality series scheduled for a June debut.

• 'The Restaurant' no more -- Jeffrey Chodorow closes Rocco's on 22nd Street

  September 21, 2004
  Not with a bang, but a whimper.

• Rocco DiSpirito barred from 'The Restaurant,' as format change planned

  July 28, 2004
  In a ruling from the bench on July 27, New York state judicial hearing officer Ira Gammerman held that China Grill Management could bar chef Rocco DiSpirito from his namesake restaurant, Rocco's on 22nd Street, and that China Grill was also free to sell or change the format of the eatery.

• NY courts begin Rocco DiSpirito's 'The Restaurant' ownership hearings

  July 27, 2004
  Reality TV's nastiest legal battle -- the ownership fight between chef Rocco DiSpirito (owner of Spirit Media) and "money man" Jeffrey Chodorow (owner of China Grill Management) over the ownership of Rocco's on 22nd Street, the restaurant featured on NBC's The Restaurant -- moved on to its next round on Monday, as a court hearing began in Manhattan.

• Rocco's 'Restaurant' battles continue, as Jeffrey Chodorow takes on Mama DiSpirito

  July 16, 2004
  Now that Rocco DiSpirito has been temporarily banished from Rocco's on 22nd Street and convicted felon/financier Jeffrey Chodorow has taken over (for now), potential customers know that they won't have the dining experience featured in NBC's The Restaurant. So how can Rocco's on 22nd Street draw a crowd until the lawsuits end?

• Rocco DiSpirito & Jeffrey Chodorow resume fighting & suing over 'The Restaurant'

  June 11, 2004
  The cameras may have stopped filming at Rocco's on 22nd, but the battles between the co-founders and co-owners of the eatery, featured on NBC's The Restaurant, rage on nonetheless.

• NBC head Jeff Zucker says NBC "made a mistake" by dropping 'The Restaurant'

  May 26, 2004
  Is this merely admitting a mistake? Or is it appeasing a superstar producer? Or were there other forces at work behind the scenes?

• NBC exiles 'The Restaurant' return to Saturday evenings

  May 24, 2004
  Apparently all is fair in love, war, and television scheduling as far as NBC is concerned.

• NBC pulls 'The Restaurant' from its May sweeps schedule, series to return in June

  May 17, 2004
  NBC has discovered that not everything reality TV uber-producer Mark Burnett touches magically turns to gold.

• NBC's 'The Restaurant' struggles in second season premiere, draws only 6.5 million viewers

  April 26, 2004
  The food at chef Rocco DiSpirito's poor service-plagued "Rocco's on 22nd Street" restaurant might finally be hot, but if the initial ratings are any indication, the NBC show chronicling the establishment's happenings doesn't appear to be, having premiered to only 6.5 million overall viewers on Monday, April 19 at 10PM ET/PT.

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