Vinnie Cimino on Building Cleveland's Best Restaurants

If you have been sleeping on Cleveland, Chef Vinnie Cimino is here to wake you up.Vinnie is the co-founder of Cordelia, one of Cleveland's most beloved restaurants, and the brand new ROSY, a wood-fired neighborhood spot that opened just seven weeks before this conversation. He is also a three-time James Beard Award nominee, a community anchor through the Cleveland Family Meal Project and Food Conscious, and one of the warmest, most thoughtful voices in the Midwest food scene today.In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Vinnie for a conversation that covers the full arc of a remarkable career. From a childhood surrounded by big Italian-Slovenian family gatherings and his grandmother's restaurant in Kent, Ohio, to working at Greenhouse Tavern under Jonathon Sawyer, to pop-ups and vagabond cooking during COVID, to answering a mysterious Indeed ad posted by his future co-founder Andrew Watts that simply said he wanted to open the next great Cleveland restaurant.Cordelia, now approaching its fourth year, is exactly what it sounds like: a warm hug. Grandma's dining room meets James Beard-level cooking, with family photos on the walls, vintage 1950s silverware, and a seasonal menu built entirely around what local farm partners bring through the back door. ROSY is Cordelia's sibling, but generationally different: old world techniques, live fire cooking, and an Adriatic and Balkan-inspired menu in a 50-seat neighborhood space where 80% of guests just walk in off the street.And running underneath all of it is Vinnie's guiding philosophy: hospitality starts inward. Take care of your team and they will take care of your guests. It sounds simple. In practice, it looks like buying James Beard Awards tickets for almost 50 members of his staff, rolling out PTO for part-time employees, and his team eating cake together the day his nomination was announced while he was away cooking a benefit dinner across the country.In this episode, we cover:Growing up in a big Italian-Slovenian family with a grandmother who ran her own restaurant in Kent, OhioHis first mid-rare steak in college and the moment food really clicked for himGetting pulled into a kitchen at Russo's in Peninsula, Ohio and never really leavingTaking a $30,000 pay cut with a one-year-old and a new house to pursue cooking for realWorking his way up to CDC at Greenhouse Tavern within 10 months of joiningPop-ups, cooking in people's homes, and vagabond cooking during COVIDReconnecting with Andrew Watts through an Indeed ad looking for a chef co-founderOpening Cordelia: the inspiration, the vintage silverware, the family photos on the wallsA seasonal menu built around what the farms bring in, not the other way aroundWhy Cordelia's menu changes frequently while 40% stays as beloved staplesPartnering with 23 to 25 local farms including The Chef's Garden and a mushroom farm in DetroitThe "everyone's got the chef's table" feeling at ROSYROSY's Adriatic and Balkan-inspired wood-fired menu and the 50-inch wood-fired grillThree James Beard nominations and what it means to the whole teamShutting both restaurants down for Beard weekend so almost 50 staff can go to ChicagoCleveland Family Meal Project during COVID and how it has evolved into Food ConsciousA senior living facility in North Ridgeville centered around healthy food and cookingRolling out PTO for all staff, including part-time, because hospitality starts inwardWhat he is most proud of: watching young cooks become sous chefsHis advice for founders: the hardest part is starting, so just start at square oneFind Vinnie and his restaurants:Cordelia: 2058 East 4th Street, Cleveland | @cordeliacleROSY: 2912 Church Avenue, Hingetown, Cleveland | @rosy.restaurantVinnie on Instagram: @chefvinnieciminoSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!