Carmine's New Television Show Airs on Fox 23

Some professional chefs would hesitate to let you peek into their kitchen, but every week Carmine Sprio opens his doors to a television audience. Sprio is the star of a new reality television show Carmine’s, which is based on his popular restaurant and cooking show, Carmine's Table.

Broadcast on Fox 23, the hour-long television program gives viewers a peek at the day-to-day workings of a restaurant. Sprio, the owner and chef of Carmine’s in Pointe Plaza, is the ever-friendly and obliging tour guide.

Sprio said the show came out of a journal he kept about his life as a restauranteur. After years of recording great stories and events in his journal, he decided it was time to share his experiences with the public. "I wish I had a little more accomplishment with pen and paper, but I don't, so I had to suffer and put it on television," Sprio said with a laugh. Sprio met with several production companies and decided to work with Great White Productions. "They saw the vision that I had and were able to capture on camera the things I wanted people to see," Sprio said.

On a recent episode of Carmine's, Sprio arrived at work to discover that all the menus had a misspelling (It’s chicken, not chkken), the dishwasher has a leak, the oven is broken, the general manager is late, and the director is not able to make it. Unfazed, Sprio proceeds with the show, demonstrating how to prepare a pastry-wrapped pork tenderloin and an apple and pear crumble, and then he feeds the restaurant’s lunch and dinner crowd.

Carmine’s captures all the front-of-house and back-of-house action, but unlike other reality shows, Carmine’s focus is always on the food. Sprio shows audiences how to turn out delicious meals without breaking a sweat or raising his voice. Always hospitable, he even offers tips for entertaining.

The spirit of the show is hospitality, and Sprio wants to bring back family dinners. Sprio said he grew up in a large Italian family in the Bronx. Every week, the family would get together for a Sunday Dinner, bringing together anywhere from 10-60 guests. Sprio wants to bring that same "supper table" approach to his restaurant, inviting families to break bread together and share a good meal. The show offers him the opportunity to teach people at home how to do the same thing, he said.

You can catch all the action Monday-Thursday from 8am-9am on Fox 23, locally broadcast on channel 8.