Meet Vinnie Cimino | Chef / Partner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vinnie Cimino and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vinnie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My thought was coming out of the pandemic I was looking for something very specific, something that aligned with my core values. I knew that restaurants were more than just food and drink, but more about the hospitality and the people that make them up more than anything. I wanted change, and I couldn’t find it. So my partner Andrew and I decided to create it, our restaurant Cordelia, centers around Midwest Hospitality, and we choose to focus our hospitality inward just as much as we do outward. To our staff, we provide health, dental, vision insurances as well as a matching 401k. We want to treat our people right, like family, because they are.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Here at Cordelia, we are centered around Midwest Hospitality and a culture of treating everyone with respect and the care that they deserve. Our food is centered around the same ideals, we source as much as we can locally and ethically. We partner with about 12-16 small venders, farmers, butchers, fishmongers, honey harvesters etc.. depending on the season. We believe the closer you are to your food the better its gonna taste and then it allows us to tell the story of the ingredients, why we use them, and why we choose to partner with whom we do.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
we would get breakfast and coffee at Patron Saint, soup dumplings at LJ shanghai, pastrami sandwiches from Larder, tours through the cleveland art museum, then depending on time of year, a cleveland sports game.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our Restaurant wouldn’t be possible without every single person that works with us every day. From the staff that chooses to call Cordelia home, to the multitude of local farmers, butchers, makers, purveyors that make up our network. We are firm believers, that not only does good food start with great ingredient, but if you surround yourself with good people, great things will happen!

Website: cordeliacle.com

Instagram: cordeliacle, chefvinniecimino

Linkedin: vinson cimino

Image Credits
@dylanpalchesko