WHAT:
People across America have been keeping their eyes on him, whether watching him whip up some tasty dinner delicacies on morning TV, voting for him on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, or catching him on NBC's The Biggest Loser or Bravo's Top Chef. Now you can meet Chef Rocco DiSpirito at Stew Leonard's Norwalk store signing copies of his newest cookbook: ROCCO GETS REAL: Cook at Home Every Day (Meredith Books; October 21, 2008; $19.95 trade paperback.). Stew's will offer the book at a special price of $13.57.

ROCCO GETS REAL is the companion to his A&E series show by the same name, which takes Rocco into the peoples' real-life kitchens to help home cooks create easy, superb meals. The ROCCO GETS REAL episode filmed in New Canaan and at Stew Leonard's will air at 10:30 AM ET on A&E the day of the book signing, November 8. Rocco will personally introduce the episode before the signing, and it will be showing in the store during the event.

WHO:
Named Food & Wine's Best New Chef in 1999 and "America's Most Exciting Young Chef" by Gourmet in 2000, celebrity chef and author Rocco DiSpirito combines his world-class cooking with a passion for empowering home cooks. The James Beard award-winning chef began his career in a Queen’s pizzeria at age 11. An honors graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and Boston University, Chef DiSpirito opened Dava in 1995 (2 stars from New York Times) and the three-star Union Pacific, where he established his culinary credentials, in New York City in 1997. DiSpirito launched Rocco's in 2003 for NBC's The Restaurant.

In addition to ROCCO GETS REAL, Rocco DiSpirito has authored four other cookbooks, including Rocco's Real-Life Recipes, Rocco's Italian American, Rocco's Five Minute Flavor and Flavor which won a coveted James Beard Award. To learn more about Rocco DiSpirito, visit his website at www.roccodispirito.com.

WHEN:
Saturday, November 8, 2008
12:30 P.M. until 2:00 P.M.

WHERE:
Stew Leonard's Norwalk Store
100 Westport Ave
Store Phone: 203.847.7213

MEDIA CONTACT:
Meghan Flynn, Stew Leonard's, 203.750.6106 or 203.667.0241
mflyn@stewleonards.com