Rocco DiSpirito’s fed-up business partners want to can the reality-show chef from “The Restaurant.”
Top-shelf restaurateur Jeffery Chodorow and his company, China Grill Management, charge in a new lawsuit that Rocco’s 22nd Street, the site of the hit NBC show, is marinating in red ink thanks to DiSpirito’s own special mix of bad business management.
“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,” say court papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
The suit also claims the eatery “has experienced significant operating losses” – over $600,000 – since it opened seven months ago.
DiSpirito yesterday dismissed those allegations as half-baked and “meritless,” and gave his eatery a rave review. “Rocco’s is a success because of my vision and hard work. The continued success of that restaurant remains my goal,” he said in a statement.
The rush to open the restaurant was the subject of the first season of the reality show, which aired to big ratings last year and transformed DiSpirito into a star.
But while he’s raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars from the show and hundreds of thousands more in endorsements, the suit says the restaurant’s investors – which include two other partners besides Chodorow – haven’t seen a dime, despite putting up $3 million to ensure the restaurant was ready “for its scheduled June 2, 2003 opening.”
The suit seeks a declaration that DiSpirito and his company have not “contributed the time, effort and skill necessary to achieve and maintain a reputation for quality food and service and managed and operated the restaurant in a professional and quality manner.”
It also seeks to cut ties with the cook and “declare that any compensation received by” DiSpirito and his companies from the TV show should actually go to Chodorow’s China Grill Management.
DiSpirito maintained that he’s not the problem – Chodorow is.
“I unfortunately chose the wrong business partner,” he said. He said he considered suing Chodorow but refrained “in the hope that our business differences could be worked out in private. Now that he has brought our dispute to court, I look forward to having him held accountable for his actions.” DiSpirito’s statement didn’t elaborate.
CG lawyer Laurence Kaiser refused comment on the suit.
The legal action will likely cook up some controversy for the show’s second season, which started filming in November and is expected to air in May.
The Post’s Page Six reported last month the second season will revolve around clashes between “Rocco and his financial backer, Jeffrey Chodorow … The two squabble over how to run things as losses mount, with Chodorow finally trying to seize control and DiSpirito barricading himself in the office.”