Born in Jamaica, Queens, Rocco DiSpirito quickly established himself as one of the most highly esteemed and sought-after chefs in the United States during the 1990s and 2000s, though his culinary experience and training commenced much earlier. He began cooking (and developed a passion for the culinary arts) at age 11, then enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America at the astonishing age of 16 and studied at the prestigious Jardin de Cygne under the aegis of Gray Kunz and Dominique Cécillon. After earning his business degree at Boston University, DiSpirito enjoyed a series of tenures at some of the United States' most revered restaurants including Boston's Aujourd'hui and the New York-based establishments Adrienne and Lespinasse.
As is often the case for professionals in his field, DiSpirito subsequently branched out as an entrepreneur and began to open his own series of restaurants, which attained enormous popularity with the public. These included Union Pacific in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of New York, and Rocco's 22nd Street, also in Manhattan. The latter received star treatment as the subject of NBC's culinary-themed reality series The Restaurant, which drew more than nine million viewers during the summer of 2003 and the summer of 2004.
In 2008, DiSpirito was paired with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff as a contestant during season seven of the popular ABC reality series Dancing with the Stars. He would go on to enjoy continued success in reality TV, with shows like Rocco Gets Real, Rocco's Dinner Party, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate.