Cline Leaves The Vine

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Cline Leaves The Vine

Kevin Godbee · Jul 29, 2016 · 2 min read

Chef Jason Cline Resigns from The Birch & Vine to Start New Venture

Last night while having dinner at The Birch & Vine, Executive Chef Jason Cline sat down with us to chat for about 40 minutes. The first words out of his mouth, after saying hello, were; "I handed in my resignation. My last day is a week from Saturday." (August 6th.)

Cline will be taking a little time off to do renovations on his house, and then he will be starting a new restaurant venture that will start with one location, with plans for multiple locations in the future.

If you've eaten at The Birch & Vine, then you know that Chef Jason is a magician with food ingredients. He also has one of the key ingredients for a successful business plan: Differentiation.

His new concept is being done in a few of the big cities, but no one is currently doing it in the St. Pete / Tampa Bay area. This is why he wouldn't tell us exactly what the details are, although he gave us some hints that we will keep to ourselves until he is ready to unveil the plan. Keep an eye on St. Petersburg Foodies for the breaking news, and sign up to our newsletter with the form above to make sure you don't miss anything.

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We are excited for the new venture, but we couldn't help to express our concern for what the future holds for The Birch & Vine. It has long been one of our top favorite restaurants. We've seen other venues go from "great!" to "hate!" when they had an amazing chef that left. (First rhyme intentional, second one not.)

Cline asserted that he has been working quite closely with Chef Luke for a long time, and that Luke has been doing most of the cooking lately, so there's nothing to worry about.

We also spoke to General Manager, Rhonda Woida. She told us "Nothing on our menu will change in the immediate future until we decide which direction we will be going in.  And of course, we do not want to take anything off the menu that are staple items."

We are looking forward to the future of The Birch & Vine, and Chef Jason Cline's new venture. Stay tuned!

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Owners of St. Petersburg Foodies, Kevin Godbee & Lori Brown with Chef Jason Cline at The Birch & Vine.

Owners of St. Petersburg Foodies, Kevin Godbee & Lori Brown
with Chef Jason Cline at The Birch & Vine.

See The Birch & Vine Listing in our St. Petersburg Restaurant Directory. Do your own ratings & review.

Updated: July 30, 11:25 am to correct Rhonda's quote.

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Written by

Kevin Godbee

World Food Championships Certified Food Judge #1541

I've always loved cooking. When I was 6-years old I wanted to cook. When my mom said that she was just running to the neighbor's and would be right back, I climbed onto the kitchen counter and found Lipton Instant French Onion Soup Mix. By the time my mom returned, I was stirring the pot on the stove, and proclaimed; "Look Mom! I'm cooking!"

In High School, I took three different cooking classes and got an A in each. After getting my first apartment, I used to cook 5-nights a week, and go out two nights. An old girlfriend from decades ago had a brother-in-law that was a CEO of a trucking company, and he used to entertain in Manhattan quite a bit ... and he started taking us along.

This was when I learned about gourmet food and fine wine. For a couple of years, Lori and I went out about 4-5 nights a week, but now we have a better balance of 50/50 between cooking at home, and going out to the amazing restaurants we are so lucky to have in our beloved Downtown St. Petersburg.

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4 Responses

  1. Avatar Tom McGowan
    He has had a great run and change is not always a bad thing in this biz. Time for Birch and Vine to step up and get someone good (and who will not be completely tied to the current menu) , and time for the chef to move on and go with his gut.
    July 29, 2016
  2. Avatar Sharri Brock
    Love the headline of this article ... WOW is my first response to the news and secondly, best of luck to him. I'm sure he will be successful with his next venture!!
    July 29, 2016
  3. Avatar Lori Brown
    Great article! We are super excited to see what is to come. Change is good!
    July 29, 2016
  4. Kevin Godbee Kevin Godbee
    Change is good as long as I can still have my Lamb Meatballs! ;-)
    July 29, 2016
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