checking in with cent’s
Restaurants today have to be multi-dimensional—thoughtful interiors, eclectic merchandise, on-trend music, and of course—great food. Cleveland’s restaurant scene is one of the best, in my humble opinion—some chefs and restauranteurs are from the area, and then some that move away, come back, and re-ignite the city with what they’ve learned. One person that did that and is succeeding is Vincent Morelli, founder of Cent’s Pizza.
Vince’s vision for Cent’s was to capture the essence of the old pizza shop feel—checkered floors, glass sodas, and pizza stands in the middle of the table where everyone’s able to grab their perfect slice. He freaked it a bit with a Scandinavian interior approach using all-natural wood, offering hard-to-find publications like 032c and Apartamento, and serving excellent wood-oven pizza with mouth-watering ingredients.
I may be biased, but Cent’s is one of my favorite pizza shops. The wonder bread that comes with cultured butter (best appetizer) to the updated pepperoni with chili peppers and house-made negroni—you’ll be inclined to agree with me. I caught up with him to discuss the democracy of pizza, some of his earliest days in a kitchen, and his go-to meal to prepare for family and friends.
Tell me about your background and when you first started working in a kitchen.
My kitchen experiences are rooted in cooking with my family or watching my grandparents cook—the smells in the kitchen, and the teamwork to bring a big dinner for a family gathering. The word that best describes my connection to cooking is nostalgia. When I was away from home, I realized how much those meals meant and how much I missed the food. When I decided to step into the kitchen, I started asking family members for recipes and making them for myself and my friends. I quickly realized I had a knack for understanding how flavors and ingredients worked together.
The majority of my schooling and professional background is in fashion. I worked retail jobs growing up and went to school for fashion merchandising. After graduation, I moved to NYC for an internship with 10 Deep for a year and continued to work with them as a production coordinator for the following five years. During my high school years and summers home from college, I worked in bars and restaurants but nothing significant, and I continued to bartend in NYC on the weekends just for quick cash.
At this point, I still had no interest in cooking professionally. I always had a fascination with art and fashion—but while living in NYC and traveling to large metropolitan cities with excess, I became particularly intrigued with product packaging and branding. Since home cooking was a large part of my life at this point, I had the idea that I wanted to open a deli/grocery shop where I could sell eclectic products that had a unique identity and branding.
I found myself buying a lot of products to test out and a camera roll full of pictures of shelves at grocery stores. When I would purchase products, I would need to find a way to use them, so I thought pizza would be a good vehicle and began to teach myself how to make the dough. I developed a good pizza at home using a traditional oven and intermediate skills. This led me to believe pizza would be an excellent avenue to take because it’s approachable, not stuffy, and would be a medium for me to stay involved in music, art, and fashion.
“The word that best describes my connection to cooking is nostalgia. When I was away from home, I realized how much those meals meant and how much I missed the food.”
You worked at Roberta’s Pizza in Brooklyn. What did you learn on the job that you have carried with you into your restaurant?
Once I realized this was the route I wanted to take, I knew I needed to brush up on my skills and pick up my speed. My favorite pizza at the time was Roberta’s in Brooklyn—located down the street from where I lived. This place is a mecca and revolutionary in the culinary world but especially for pizza. I applied for a weekend job since I was still working at 10 deep and they put me in “take out” because I was low commitment.
It’s what I needed—we made 1,000 pizzas almost every Friday and Saturday night. I jumped right in, and within a couple of weeks, I was keeping up, but strictly slapping out doughs and building them still had no oven experience. I did that for about a year and then had an opportunity to do a pop-up with them in LA for six weeks. I took the chance and quit my job at 10 Deep. This is where I learned how to stretch mozzarella and cook it in the oven. It was also a boot camp to prepare myself to work in the kitchen daily. I moved back to Cleveland directly from L.A. and my girlfriend Ashley moved back to Cleveland from NYC.
You lived in New York for a few years working in fashion. What was that job like, and how did it prepare you to be a restaurant owner?
Living in NYC was very fast-paced and eye-opening to so many different things and perspectives. It made me realize how many people are chasing after the same things. Once I realized this, I needed to find my niche and focus on something particular. My job at 10 Deep was broad—I was the assistant to the director of production. It was always a lot to juggle, and most of the time, I felt very overwhelmed and stressed out. It taught me how to view everything I needed to do as one big megaplex in my mind and keep all the parts moving all the time and never drop the ball. As much as it was stressful, it was rewarding, I met lifelong best friends, and we had a lot of fun through that brand.
Talk about the inspiration behind Cent’s and the journey from idea to execution.
The idea behind the name Cent’s is simply the end of Vincent’s. It's my name but also my grandfather's. I used to cook for him, and he instilled confidence in me and my cooking. I also notice that most people assume my name is Vincenzo or Vinny when I say Vince—it emphasizes the ending.
What’s one thing you wish you had known before starting your own business?
I honestly don’t think there is one particular thing that stands out to me that I wish I had known before starting the business. I had and have a lot of great people around me that are willing to answer questions or give me advice when needed. Anything that comes up because stuff always does, I try to approach it as a learning opportunity.
What makes the perfect slice of pizza?
Not all slices are created equal, and everyone has their preference—pizza is pizza. It’s not that serious, although it seems like such a huge topic these days. There are so many ways to make a perfect pizza. Sometimes my favorite slice is from Domino's—it all depends on my mood.
Talk about any rituals you follow and how you incorporate them into your routine to help stay grounded.
I wish I had some more healthy mental or physical routine in my day and would like to get to that point, but right now, my routine is to work from start to finish of the day. If I ever have a few extra minutes, I keep a basketball in my car and will pull up to a court and shoot hoops. Before dinner service every day, we have a family meal, and Pat, our general manager, does a little huddle talking about any specials or whatever is going on for the day. It gives myself and the staff a chance to decompress before we get started for the night.
What is one piece of advice you would offer to other business owners?
I am not one to give a bunch of advice, but I think it's important to stay true to your vision. You don’t have to please everybody. Obstacles will present themselves and get you down, but you have to keep moving forward.
What is your go to meal when you are cooking for your family and friends?
The first meal I am cooking for family and friends is pasta, cavatelli with my grandparent's ragu, meatballs, and pork neck bones if I have the time. If not, a simple pasta dish with whatever is available in the fridge, usually oil-based.
Your pizza shop offers natural wines. What natural wine pairs best with a staple pizza like a margherita or pepperoni?
We offer great wine options, and they change pretty rapidly. The ones that stand out to me the most, especially for a cheese or pepperoni pizza, are slightly chilled reds such as Cantina Indigeno Sub Rosso and Lammidia Anfora Rosso.
“The accessibility of pizza is one of the main reasons I chose this avenue and its shareability. I love the idea of sharing meals with friends and loved ones.”
No matter what economic class you’re from, pizza is accessible. What else can be said about this specific food and its ability to bring people together?
The accessibility of pizza is one of the main reasons I chose this avenue and its shareability. I love the idea of sharing meals with friends and loved ones. The fact that it's already divided up is perfect, and it makes it easy to add other sharable items around, creating an excellent dining dynamic.
You’ve lived in NYC and Ohio. What can you tell people who are under the impression that you have to be in a big city to follow creative pursuits?
It's eye-opening to get out of your hometown and learn in big cities but don’t take the opportunities your city has for granted. In a big city, so many people are chasing the same things as I said before which is fine— and if you're great you will always succeed.
For me, it is more about bringing something to a city that needs it rather than adding to an already overly saturated city. Cleveland is more important to me than anywhere else, and I feel obligated to make it a better place to live. I am not done traveling, but I will always have this place to call home, and I now have built something here that I can continue to grow on.
How would you like to see Cleveland better support the culinary scene?
I think Clevelanders are very supportive of the culinary scene. We could do a better job supporting late-night businesses as of the past couple of years because of covid—I think people have shifted away from staying out late and exploring.
It's probably good for personal health, ha! But it is important for growing cities to have an element of nightlife, and there need to be more options for late-night businesses. I am also to blame for this, but it is in the plan to expand hours soon enough.
