Prosperity Social Club to Launch All-New Menu Created by Chef Jill Vedaa

Earlier this year, Will Hollingsworth brought in chef Jill Vedaa as the VP for Culinary Operations for his growing hospitality group Buildings and Food. Vedaa’s role is to oversee culinary at every business within the restaurant group, which includes La Cave du Vin in Tremont, Old 86 in Detroit Shoreway, Good Company in Battery Park and Prosperity Social Club in Tremont.

Vedaa’s first menu rollout took place earlier this year at La Cave du Vin. Her next big unveiling will happen Thursday, September 24th, when Prosperity Social Club (1109 Starkweather Ave., 216-937-1938) debuts its first major menu overhaul in decades. The three-time James Beard Award semifinalist says that her aim when crafting the new set of offerings was to appeal to both old and new customers of the storied Tremont tavern.

READ MORE: Most Interesting People 2021, Jill Vedaa

“With the new menu, we’re taking the food that makes sense for Prosperity – Eastern European influences, Cleveland traditions, great tavern food, the kind of dishes you actually want to eat – and looking at them through a fresh lens. Some things deserve to stay exactly because people love them,” says Vedaa. “We also want Prosperity to speak to a new generation of Cleveland diners. You shouldn’t have to grow up eating schnitzel, paprikash or pierogi to appreciate them. Great food with history behind it can still feel current, fun and relevant.”

Starting tomorrow, guests will see a menu with small and large plates designed for sharing, sandwiches and entrees. New dishes include lamb pelmeni with sour cherry glaze, smoked whitefish dip with housemade chips, and beet butterbrot with farmers cheese. Old World classics like pierogies, cabbage rolls, chicken paprikash and potato latkes are here to stay, as is the fish fry.

Vedaa will add chef-driven touches to classic European dishes, such as pork schnitzel with mashed potatoes, braised red cabbage and mushroom gravy, a schnitzel sandwich with cabbage slaw and spicy aioli served on a pretzel bun, and sauerkraut balls served over whole grain mustard aioli. 

“This isn’t about turning Prosperity into a different restaurant,” she adds. “It’s about protecting what makes it special, tightening up what we do, and giving both the people who have loved this place for years and the people walking through the door for the first time something to get excited about. We’re respecting the past, but we’re not stuck in it.”

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