A Tuesday (July 27) ruling by a New York judge cleared the way for Jeffrey Chodorow and other backers to shut down Rocco's on 22nd Street and also barred the restaurant's co-founder Rocco DiSpirito from entering the restaurant.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman told Chodorow that he could not be required to run a restaurant that was losing money.

The founding of Rocco's was the subject of the successful first season of NBC's reality series "The Restaurant," which aired last summer. The second season, which depicted the eroding relationship between DiSpirito and Chodorow, failed to draw the same audience when it premiered this spring and the show was ultimately yanked from NBC's schedules.

Rocco's on 22nd Street may soon be yanked from its home in New York's Flatiron District. According to media reports, Chodorow's lawyer, Laurence Kaiser told Judge Gammerman that his client may sell the space or may open a new restaurant at the location as soon as late August.

A trial is expected to begin on Aug. 31 to determine whether DiSpirito and Chodorow had a legal partnership and if DiSpirito breached that agreement. The celebrity chef has already filed a countersuit claiming 50 percent ownership in the restaurant and accusing Chodorow of attempting to run the joint into the ground, the exact same charge that Chodorow leveled against DiSpirito.

DiSpirito cannot enter his eatery before the August trial date.