On any given morning at Jimmy’s Strip District Grille, you’ll see familiar scenes that define small-town life. Regulars slide chairs together. Friends wave each other over. Conversations overlap between tables. Some customers arrive alone with a newspaper or phone, others with children in tow—and by the time breakfast is over, many have spoken to people they didn’t know when they walked in.
That sense of connection is intentional.
“Every single day, people come in who end up sitting with someone else, hugging, or catching up,” Cecilia Ottenweller, who purchased Jimmy’s Strip District Grille with her husband about six months ago, said. “If they don’t know you when they walk in, they will by the time they leave.”
Cecilia’s husband, Scott Briercheck, who manages the front of the house on weekends while working in healthcare technology during the week, sees it the same way. “You know right away if you’re doing a good job,” he said. “You see it in people’s faces. It’s immediate. That’s something you don’t always get when working with bits in IT.”
Honoring the Past, Gently Shaping the Future
When Cecilia and Scott purchased the restaurant, one of their first decisions was to preserve its identity. The name stayed. The menu stayed largely the same. Longtime vendors stayed. Most importantly, the staff stayed—some with more than 17 years at the diner.
“We didn’t want to change things too quickly,” Cecilia said. “Consistency matters, especially in a place like this.”
At the same time, subtle changes have begun to reflect their own style. New menu options like avocado toast and a Greek omelet sit comfortably alongside classic diner staples. Breakfast and lunch are served all day to accommodate any taste at any time!
They also made thoughtful updates to the space itself—warming the colors, refreshing the bathrooms, improving lighting, and preserving beloved details like the mural and street scene that longtime patrons recognize instantly.
In a world increasingly built around speed and drive-thru convenience, Cecilia sees Jimmy’s as something different—a place to slow down, sit, and simply be present.
“You might just want to come in, sit down, and breathe,” Cecilia said.
Coffee, Choice, and Respect for Regulars
One of the clearest examples of how Cecilia approaches operations can be found in something as simple as coffee.
Rather than simply replacing the existing brew, she held a coffee tasting where a variety of coffees were sampled to create a consensus with customer input. She even kept a little of the original coffee for those longtime regulars who prefer it.
“Coffee is really important in a diner,” Cecilia explained. “You may lose people by forcing change, but you earn trust by listening.”
That philosophy extends throughout the operation—from sourcing bread from regional vendors to maintaining relationships Jimmy had built with suppliers across western Pennsylvania.
“I try to visit every single table that comes into the restaurant… I want to know if they had a great experience or not,” Cecilia said.
When Music, Food, and Community Collide
The restaurant’s social role became especially clear during a recent evening event featuring live music, Santa Claus, and a packed dining room. Scott played piano. Cecilia sang. Families stayed longer. First-time guests lingered.
Scott said. “It was about giving people a reason to be together during the Christmas season.”
Those moments reflect what the couple hopes Jimmy’s continues to be: a place people think of first when they want to meet friends, gather with family, or simply feel part of the community.
That commitment to community is personal for the couple.
Between them, Cecilia and Scott are raising five sons, ranging in age from 19 to 24. Two have already completed college—one earning a master’s degree, another pursuing a PhD—while the others are still working their way through school.
In the family and community spirit, the restaurant has hosted fundraisers, welcomed community raffles, and even packed up breakfast in large trays for the Mars football team so players could eat while watching game film.
“We’ve been through all the Boy Scout popcorn sales, the band hoagie sales, and football fundraisers,” Cecilia said. “So we know what it’s like—and we want people to be able to do the same thing here.”
“That support is amazing, and that’s what we want to do,” Cecilia said. “We’ve lived in this community for more than 20 years, and we really just want to be a bigger part of it.”
A Career Built for This Moment
For Cecilia, owning a breakfast-and-lunch restaurant feels less like a leap and more like a natural culmination.
She has spent more than 30 years in food and retail operations, including roles at The Ground Round, TGI Fridays, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Giant Eagle. She helped open restaurants, remodel large-format grocery stores, manage complex operations, and lead teams of hundreds. She also holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in business and marketing.
“All of those experiences made this transition easier,” she said. “From contracts and sourcing to staffing and customer experience—I’ve done pieces of this my entire career.”
Scott’s background in healthcare IT and artificial intelligence complements that experience, particularly on the financial, legal, and systems side of the business.
Together, they describe Jimmy’s not as a short-term investment, but as a long-term project—possibly even their retirement chapter.
Looking Ahead
For now, the focus remains on consistency, relationships, and steady growth. Cecilia envisions a day when every Tuesday is as busy as a Sunday, and when more people—some who have lived nearby for years—discover a place they didn’t realize was there.
Ask either owner to describe Jimmy’s in a sentence, and the answer is simple:
“It’s a place where you can come with family or friends, have a great meal, and still feel like you’re at home,” Cecilia said.
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