Slutty Vegan is finally opening on the Baltimore Peninsula

On Tuesday morning, Aisha “Pinky” Cole drove past a couple of the schools she attended in Baltimore – Western and City, as well as Hazelwood Elementary and Middle School. “I actually cried,” she said. “I’m really here, I’m home again.”

Cole’s next stop: the Baltimore Peninsula, where she’s preparing to open her 15th Slutty Vegan restaurant and the first in her hometown of Charm City.

“This is the city that raised me,” she said, sitting in the back of her black SUV outside the eatery, which finally opens Saturday. “I just feel good. I’m anxious for the right reasons, but I know it’s going to be a success.”

Inside 2424 Distillery St. staff piled goods and prepared for the crowd that will inevitably be hungry for One Night Stands and other cheekily named plant-based dishes. Outside, a sandwich board served as a job posting: “DO YOU HAVE GREAT FINAL ENERGY?” asked it in all caps.

Director of Operations Taaj Parks said she expected about 1,000 people to come out the first day, so there’s a lot to do before then. “Pinky’s not new to Baltimore, but we’re new to Baltimore,” Parks said.

The quick-service restaurant is next door to sister concept Bar Vegan, a sit-down lounge and eatery that Cole said should open Jan. 7. “It’s really a vibe,” Cole said, calling it “Slutty Vegan 2.0” and a “place where people can have a safe place to relax, have really good food, really good music and just let their hair down.” There is an existing location of the bar in Atlanta, where the Slutty Vegan company is headquartered.

Cole is not only a tenant in the Baltimore Peninsula, the mini-city built by Under Armor founder Kevin Plank, but is also a partner in the Rye Street Market development, which is being overseen by developer MAG Partners and will eventually include Jersey Mike’s, BK Hummer and Urbano Tex – Mexico. “It’s a beautiful risk to take with a brand like mine,” Cole said of the project. “I’m confident that people will come and show up and they’ll be excited about it.”

Cole, a former TV producer, started Slutty Vegan in Atlanta in 2018 and built a cult following that includes celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Tyler Perry. Additional branches have since opened, primarily in Georgia, but also in New York, Texas and Alabama.

The Baltimore location has been in the works for many years. In 2022, Cole told radio station 92Q, “I have to come home.” Northwood Commons later announced that she would open a branch there; Parks declined to comment on this location.

The Slutty Vegan social media account has been teasing the Baltimore eatery’s opening date for months, including in November, when Cole shared that the restaurant had failed its initial health inspection. A week ago, they posted on Instagram a photo of Mayor Brandon Scott peeking into a Slutty Vegan bag.

Cole said her own success and return to the city offers a lesson for others. “I want the people of Baltimore to know that you can leave and come back,” she said. “A lot of people who quote, unquote, ‘do it’ in Baltimore, they leave and they don’t come back.”