There’s a tattoo of a blimp on Vinnie Cimino’s right forearm. I noticed it last Tuesday as I watched the chef prep fresh English peas before dinner service at Cordelia, the restaurant where Cimino is head chef and partner.

Although the tattoo bears the instantly recognizable coloring of the Goodyear blimp, Cimino’s version reads “Good Beer.” It’s a nod to Cimino’s Akron roots and to his grandfather, who worked at Goodyear. 

At Cordelia, there are countless nods to Cimino and owner Andrew Watts’ Northeast Ohio heritage. The restaurant is named after Watts’ great-grandmother, Sarah Cordelia Smith Rogers, whose portrait is proudly displayed in the dining room.

In a section of the kitchen Cimino calls “the knickknack wall” hang two signs from Bellies Deli, the Kent restaurant his grandparents owned for years. At the front of the restaurant, spanning the wall behind the host station, is an image from the late ’70s or early ’80s depicting the very stretch of East Fourth Street we now stand on. (In the photo, Action Jeans, Modern Menswear and Rathskeller Bar mark Cordelia’s location.)

And then there’s the motto of Cordelia, emblazoned on its website, its menus and a T-shirt the restaurant designed with Cleveland Clothing Co. Midwest nice.

“We really lean into being Midwesterners,” said Cimino, who lives in West Akron. “We celebrate the fact that we’re from Ohio. We celebrate the bounties of our lands, the farmers that take the time out of their day to grow this exceptional produce that we get to enjoy. We take great responsibility in that, because we know that good food starts in great ingredients.”

It’s not just a motto. It’s the backbone of what Cimino, Watts and the entire Cordelia team are trying to build, from the food they serve to the environment they create, both in and out of the kitchen.

And judging by the recent announcement that Cimino is a James Beard Award nominee, it seems to be working.

James Beard comes calling

In January, Cimino received the news that he was one of 11 semifinalists in the running for Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH). Earlier this month, the group was narrowed down to five. Cimino is one of two Ohio chefs in the category. The other is Jose Salazar of Mita’s in Cincinnati.

The nomination is further proof that culinary excellence is possible in Ohio, a topic that is, at best, treated as an anomaly, and, at worst, routinely ignored by institutional stalwarts — including the one that nominated Cimino. In its 33 years, only two Ohio chefs have won James Beard Best Chef awards: Jonathon Sawyer and Michael Symon.

Watts is open about his desire for a James Beard Award. When he posted an ad for a head chef online, he made his intentions clear. “It was titled, ‘Searching for a chef/partner with the aspirations of bringing a James Beard Award back to Cleveland,’” said Watts.

“I think our area doesn’t get nearly enough credit,” he said. “We’re stuck in between New York and Chicago, and most of the awards go there or Philly or elsewhere. Most of the attention goes elsewhere.”

When I asked Cimino if he felt any pressure to represent Ohio at the Restaurant and Chef Awards in June (held in, ahem, Chicago), his answer was diplomatic.

“I find it’s a great honor. It’s incredible to be able to represent Cleveland [and] Akron, the place that I call home,” Cimino said. 

He paused before continuing.

“It’s been a very long road, and a lot of trials and tribulations, and it’s very validating to be here. You make that first list, and you’re in this group of 20, and you’re like, ‘All right, we’re on to something. We’re doing something the right way.’ You make this list, and now it’s down to five. This is where you belong. You’ve done it now. Let’s keep getting better every day and building off the success that we’ve had. You belong in this room. It’s not by happenstance that you’ve made it here anymore.”

From an early love of food to a career in cooking

Cimino grew up in Ellet surrounded by food. His father comes from a large Italian family based in Ravenna and Streetsboro, and Cimino’s paternal grandparents owned the aforementioned Bellies Deli. His maternal grandmother is from Alabama, and as a kid, Cimino spent family vacations down South eating oysters on the bay. 

“I kind of fell into cooking because I just wanted to learn more about why I liked food so much,” Cimino said.

Still, it would take him until his post-college years to delve into cooking. After high school, Cimino attended the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on a wrestling scholarship. He studied political science and philosophy, but he didn’t graduate.

Cimino started working in restaurants while in Charleston. When he moved back to Akron around 2004, he delved fully into the industry, working at the Grotto in the Valley, then Russo’s, followed by a country club in Medina and finally Ken Stewart’s Grille. He would spend six years at the restaurant, eventually working his way up to sous chef.

“I went to Ken Stewart’s, and I really learned how to cook,” Cimino said, “cook for volume and understand the subtle nuances of cooking and the orchestration that goes into it. [I] started learning more about ingredients.”

For Cimino, each job represented a new “room” where he could gain new skills to become a better chef. So when he had learned all he could at Ken Stewart’s, he needed to find a new room.

“And that’s when I applied to be a sous chef at Greenhouse,” he said.

Making his name in Cleveland

From the time it opened in 2009 until it closed in 2020, Greenhouse Tavern was the restaurant in Cleveland. It was chef Jonathon Sawyer’s flagship. (He also owned the Italian restaurant Trentina and the ramen spot Noodle Cat.) In 2015, Sawyer won a James Beard Award – in the same category Cimino is a finalist in. Greenhouse’s former home is only a few doors down from Cordelia. 

If Ken Stewart’s taught Cimino how to cook, Greenhouse taught him to elevate his cooking. He learned how to think about food differently and how to utilize certain ingredients based on their flavor profiles.

Cimino eventually became the chef de cuisine and later the corporate chef overseeing all of Sawyer’s restaurants. Greenhouse is also where Cimino met Watts, who was the general manager when Cimino started. Watts laughed when recalling his first impression of Cimino.

“When Vinnie came through the door, he had a big ole handlebar mustache curled up at the ends [and] some real tight jeans. He was pretty hipster,” Watts said. “He was kind of a silent killer. He came in and worked his way up pretty quick.”

He continued, “I think that when you walk into a restaurant, you feel what it is. That culture, that hospitality is obvious. If you’re taking great care of your team, then they’re going to take great care of the folks that come to be with you.”

Doing things differently also comes through in the food served at Cordelia. Watts attributed that to Cimino, who he said challenged him to think beyond the typical Cleveland fare of pierogies and kielbasa.

“He’s thought so much further down the road and so much deeper into what Midwest cuisine is than I realized it could be,” Watts said.

At Cordelia, Midwest cuisine is represented in a menu that changes frequently based on what’s in season. It’s food that celebrates local farmers and purveyors (like Akron Coffee Roasters and Akron Honey). It’s modern yet reminiscent of your grandma’s kitchen and Sunday dinners. The current menu includes beef cheek pastrami served with chickpea flatbread and sauerkraut, spaetzle e pepe, clams and ham, fried chicken and, of course, jojos (i.e. fried potato wedges for any non-Northeast Ohio folks).

In July – about a month after Cimino heads to Chicago for the James Beard Awards – Cordelia will celebrate its second anniversary. Listening to Cimino discuss his career, it feels as though it all led up to this: a restaurant that celebrates his home and his people. And this is just the beginning for Cordelia — and for Cimino.

“We just set out to do things a little bit differently, and not every day is perfect, but what every day is is a learning opportunity to figure out how to do it better tomorrow,” Cimino said. “And that’s where we lay our heads every night.”