Rocco DiSpirito brings the HEAT

11/17/2010

At Wednesday night's Heat game, you'll see more action than the three kings doing their thing. Chef Rocco DiSpirito will be in the house to help us whet our appetites for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

The star of Bravo's upcoming cooking competition The Dinner Party will give away dozens of copies of his cookbook Now Eat This! as well 50 pairs of tickets to various fest events.

DiSpirito doesn't mind sitting on the sidelines but don't look for him dribbling out there. ``I love watching those incredibly talented giants,'' he says, ``but I'm one of those guys who spent his nights working so I was never really able to get into sports on any kind of serious level.''

Of course -- Rocco's talents lie in the kitchen, where he'll be cooking up a storm on Thanksgiving. On the menu: deep fried turkey.

``It's amazing -- you throw this thing in a 40-quart pot of boiling oil and it comes out absolutely delicious in 40 minutes, not four hours.''

Nothing else too fancy.

``I'm not going to mess up this year,'' says DiSpirito, who turns 44 on Friday. ``I'm going to set myself up for success. I'll just try not to dry out the bird or blow up the house.''

DANCING MACHINE

Congrats to Coral Springs resident Katelynn Draper. The 18-year-old dancer bagged $5,000 and a future spot on MTV. The contest was to promote Burlesque, which opens Nov. 24.

The film stars Cher as an owner of a failing dance club and Christina Aguilera as the young woman who helps save the place with her sexy moves.

-- MADELEINE MARR