Vinnie Cimino may run one of Cleveland’s most popular restaurants, but make no mistake: He’s a die-hard Akronite.
“I scream about Akron as much as I can, even though I work in Cleveland,” said Cimino, head chef at Cordelia. “Akron will always have my heart. And as a kid from Akron [and] somebody who still lives in Akron, Swensons has always been a big part of my life and my culture.”
Now, Cimino is making his own mark on the beloved local hamburger chain. For the month of June, two menu items created by Cimino will be available at all Swensons locations (except for the spot at Lower.com Field in Columbus).
Cimino created his own version of Swensons’ popular Galley Boy: a double cheeseburger with pimento cheese, onions, Swensons’ special white sauce and fluorescent green Kool-Aid pickles. Those who prefer their pimento cheese as a dip can also order it as a side, served with saltine crackers.
To celebrate the launch of his menu items, Cimino, along with some of the Cordelia crew, spent Sunday working the afternoon shift at the original Swensons in Wallhaven.
It was a full-circle scenario for Cimino, who applied to work at Swensons in high school and college but was never hired, he said.
Wearing navy shorts, a white belt and a Swensons x Cordelia hat and T-shirt, Cimino was all smiles as he ran orders to customers — with help from some Swensons curb servers.
By the time the restaurant opened at 11 a.m., the parking lot was already 30% full, said Charles Craig, senior vice president of culinary. Craig worked closely with Cimino on the collaboration.
“Everybody’s excited,” Craig said. “Everybody’s really enjoying the connection to the community.”
And how were Cimino’s curb serving skills?
“From what I can see, he’s been sprinting to the cars just fine, and his endurance is great,” Craig said. “He’s got natural hospitality.”
Swensons and Cordelia are a ‘natural match’
The burger is a nod to Cimino’s family history. His mom is from Alabama, where pimento cheese is as popular as Lawson’s Chip Dip is in Northeast Ohio. As a kid, his grandma made Kool-Aid pickles, which involved adding a packet of Kool-Aid mix to a jar of store-bought pickles. The result was some seriously colorful cukes.
“We experimented with different colors and realized that green was clearly the outright winner,” Cimino said. “It’s more palatable to the eye because a pickle is already green. What’s the difference between a regular green pickle and a really hyper green one? Not a whole lot, just a little bit of conversation.”
While Swensons prides itself on working with local farmers and merchants, collaborations with popular Ohio chefs are new for the 90-year-old business, Craig said. For May, the restaurant teamed up with Columbus-based Black Cap Hot Sauce for its first collaboration. (The company is run by Jack Moore, another veteran of the Cleveland food scene who, like Cimino, worked at The Greenhouse Tavern.)
The opportunity to merge Swensons, an iconic local brand, with Cordelia, arguably one of the best and most exciting restaurants in Cleveland, was too good to pass up, Craig said.
“The love that Chef Vinnie and his team have shown for Swensons, it just made this a real, natural match,” he said, “and it’s fun and it’s exciting.”
While there isn’t a Swenson’s location in Cleveland proper, Cimino plans to bring the burger chain to the city with a limited menu inspired by the restaurant that will be available all month at Cordelia. It includes oysters with California granita and lemon zest; a Galley Boy tartare with Piquillo pepper, pomesco, barbecue sauce and mayo; and a California slush float. (A California is one of Swensons’ signature drinks and is made with grape soda.) On June 30, the final day of the collaboration, Swensons will park its food truck in front of Cordelia (2058 E. Fourth St., Cleveland) during lunchtime.
“There’s a lot of love and a lot of appreciation in this collaboration,” Cimino said. “And it’s been a long time in the works, and the excitement has just continued to grow, I know, especially for us on our end. I’m so excited to be a part of it.”
