Growing up in Akron’s Ellet neighborhood, Vinnie Cimino enjoyed big family meals and learned to love food and cooking from his grandparents.
He especially enjoyed going on vacation with his maternal grandparents to Alabama, where lots of good cooking happened. He also spent his formative years at his paternal grandparents’ restaurant, the former Bellie’s Deli that was in Kent from 1991 to 2001.
“I grew up in this big family on both sides and a lot of it was always centered around food and hospitality. And that was kind of always around. It was something, you know, innate,” Cimino said.
Now, at 40, Cimino is a James Beard Award semifinalist for best chef in the Great Lakes region, just 18 months after opening the popular Cordelia restaurant in Cleveland with partner Andrew Watts.
Cimino, who lives in Akron’s Highland Square, said that it still hasn’t sunk in that he’s been named a James Beard semifinalist, a prestigious honor in the restaurant industry.
“To be completely frank, I was shocked when I got the phone call that I made the list. Never in a million years did I ever expect or think that I’d be on that list with so many, you know, great chefs and people that I’ve looked up to for a number of years and I was really taken aback,” he said by phone Wednesday.