CLEVELAND, Ohio — Five years after Michael Symon’s Lola restaurant closed its doors amidst the pandemic, he returned to the kitchen at 2058 East 4th Street to cook alongside Cordelia chef Vinnie Cimino for a charity, in honor of Jacques Pépin.
“It’s surreal in a lot of ways,” Symon said while sitting next to Cimino at the Cordelia bar on Oct. 23. “But when I come in here it makes me super happy to see what it’s become and evolved into.”
The collaboration was one of the many 90/90 dinners taking place across the United States in honor of the famed French chef’s 90th birthday on Dec. 18. Symon and Cimino came together to cook for a sold-out dinner on Thursday evening, all in the name of raising money for The Jacques Pépin Foundation, which supports community-based kitchens that offer culinary training to adults with high barriers to employment, including those affected by the justice system, homelessness or addiction.
The event aimed to donate $20,000 total during the one-seating dinner, with tickets selling for $275 apiece. However, thanks to drink sales and charitable donations, Cordelia and Symon were able to donate $35,079 to the foundation.
While Symon had the chance to dine at Cordelia this year with his wife and mom, he gained a deeper level of respect for Cimino and his staff while working alongside them in the kitchen this week.
“It makes Liz and I feel very good that we left there, but the people that ended up taking it over are passionate like we’ve been passionate,” Symon said.
For Cimino, the event felt like a surreal moment to honor one of his culinary icons while cooking alongside another.
“Michael has been an inspiration to us forever. He set the tone for what people thought about food in Cleveland, in the Midwest,” Cimino said. “He paved the way for us to be able to do this.”
Symon “clocked” into Cordelia on Wednesday morning, walking downstairs to the prep areas like he’s done “a million times” in the past. He laughed while preparing menu items in what used to be Lola’s former pastry kitchen, thinking of his former pastry chefs that would scold him for cooking savory in the sweets department.
“I’m breaking the rules over here,” he said.
Symon was most struck by the entire Cordelia staff’s eagerness to learn and do better. Cimino didn’t tell any of his chefs what time to come in on Thursday before the evening event, telling them they could come in when they wanted.
“Every single one of them showed up early and were just excited to be here,” Cimino said. “I can guarantee you that this will resonate with them for a lifetime.”
Vinnie Cimino is the chef/owner at Cordelia on East 4th Street in Cleveland.Alex Darus
The opportunity to get tangible learning experience in a restaurant that has a deep appreciation for food and the people who make it isn’t the norm these days. However, it makes Symon happy to see how inspirational Cimino is to his staff.
“The thing we prided ourselves most of when it was Lola is not just the food that we put out here, but we took cooks and turned them into chefs, and then they went on to do other things,” Symon said, adding that he sees a similar pattern with Cordelia.
In general, Symon called it the “best case scenario” that Cordelia took over the restaurant he built decades ago. When asked what he would’ve thought if he came back to a chain restaurant or a joint serving mass-produced fried food in Lola’s place.
“I would’ve cried,” Symon said. “But when I come in here it makes me super happy to see what it’s become and evolved into.”
The collaboration for the 90/90 dinner came naturally, as both chefs were invited to cook for the series and were eager to participate. Cimino and Symon both credit Pépin and Julia Child’s cooking shows on PBS with making them fall in love with food.
“I grew up watching Jacques on PBS,” Cimino said. “It wasn’t even just cooking, just what they were making and how they were making it and the art behind it.”
Symon’s history with Pépin goes back to when he was a 22-year-old chef. Cleveland native Susie Heller, who was Pépin and Child’s culinary producer for years, connected him with both chefs and became Symon’s “culinary mom.” Symon even had the chance to be a prep cook on some of the chefs’ shows that were shot in the Midwest.
He recalled a time when he was the head chef at Giovanni’s in Cleveland for one month, when Heller brought Pépin and Child in for dinner.
“I almost threw up on my feet,” Symon said.
Michael Symon returned to Cleveland to cook at Cordelia.Getty Images for NYCWFF
Pépin had spent a few days in Cleveland eating at some of the finest restaurants, where he was served specialty dishes aimed at impressing a renowned chef. Symon, on the other hand, stuck with what he knew — cooking something simple, delicious and with proper technique. Pépin told him that night it was the best meal he had the entire trip.
“It kind of became my lesson in life of cooking, like, less is more,” Symon said.
Since then, Symon’s remained close to Pépin and his family. He attended the foundation’s first ever event and feels personally good about supporting the charity because he knows that the money ends up in the right place.
“He’s kind of magical and he’s the sweetest human,” Symon said.
When it came to building the menu, it wasn’t hard for Symon and Cimino to collaborate. They both wanted to celebrate Pépin’s legacy and their Midwestern roots. They both knew that recreating direct recipes from Pépin’s cookbooks didn’t feel right.
The chefs took French dishes they knew from culinary school, but with their own twist. Hors d’oeuvres included pimento cheese gougères and honeynut squash pierogi, with desserts like maitake mushroom sable and a fig leaf cream puff.
For the main dish, Symon called Pépin and asked if he were able to attend the Cleveland dinner, what he would want to eat. Veal and leeks were his quick answer, so the chefs built a menu around that, featuring dishes like leek and crab vinaigrette and a smoked veal prime rib with Pop Mustard jus. Cimino created a Lake Erie walleye quenelle, to celebrate peak walleye season in Northeast Ohio and classic French cuisine.
Cordelia is in the former Lola space on East 4th Street. cleveland.com
When Cimino first opened Cordelia, folks would comment that he had big shoes to fill in Symon’s absence, almost with a tone of doubt. However, he took it as an opportunity to make his city proud and carry on the torch that Symon passed.
And so far, Cimino and his business partner Andrew Watts have succeeded, with two James Beard nominations, a spot in Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs of 2025 and a second restaurant in Ohio City on the way. And considering Symon was given the same Food & Wine accolade in 1998, Cimino thinks it’s time for people to stop calling Cleveland an “up-and-coming” city.
“I think Cleveland’s arrived. I think what we’re here to do is just to prove that,” Cimino said. “We’re going to continue to set the bar everyday and celebrate our people, celebrate our farmers, celebrate our Midwestern heritage and we’re not going to measure ourselves up to other people, other cities, wherever. We are Cleveland.”
And while Symon doesn’t live in Cleveland anymore, he felt immense pride to be back in his hometown, cooking alongside Cimino and his eager crew for one of his greatest inspirations.
“The more chefs that do what Vinnie does, where you build this environment of learning and pride, that’s how things grow,” Symon said.
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Dining and Cooking