Reality TV chef no longer cooking

NEW YORK, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Reality TV chef Rocco DiSpirito has lost his second restaurant in two months after being ousted from New York's Union Pacific eatery.

The star of NBC's "The Restaurant" left his seven-year post as executive chef and parted ways with his Union Pacific partners, who have decided to close the restaurant Dec. 24, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

"I have made a decision to take a break from the day-to-day operations of a restaurant to focus on other opportunities apart from the restaurant world," DiSpirito said in Wednesday's New York Post.

DiSpirito's exit marks the celebrity chef's third restaurant closing in less than one year.

Rocco's on 22nd, the restaurant made famous by a former NBC reality series, closed last week after a public feud between Rocco and another set of partners, which included DiSpririto being barred from the establishment by an August court order.

Tuscan, another DiSpirito establishment, also closed this year.

Union Pacific replaced DiSpirito with chef Laurent Tourondel from BLT Steak, who will serve as a consultant until the restaurant closes.