On Tuesday morning, Aisha “Pinky” Cole drove past a few 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 back home.”

Cole’s next stop: Baltimore Peninsula, where she is 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, seated 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 successful.”

Inside 2424 Distillery St., staff members were stacking merchandise and preparing for the crowd that will inevitably be hungry for One Night Stands and other naughtily named plant-based fare. Outside, a sandwich board served as a job notice: “DO YOU HAVE BIG SLUT ENERGY?” it asked in all-caps letters.

Director of operations Taaj Parks said she anticipated approximately 1,000 people will come out the first day, so there’s much to do before then. “Pinky’s not new to Baltimore, but we’re new to Baltimore,” Parks said.

The quick-service restaurant sits next to sister concept Bar Vegan, a sit-down lounge and eatery that Cole said is set to open Jan. 7. “It is really a vibe,” Cole said, calling it “Slutty Vegan 2.0″ and a “place where people can have a safe space 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 isn’t just a tenant in Baltimore Peninsula, the mini-city built by Under Armour founder Kevin Plank, but is also a partner in the Rye Street Market development, which is overseen by developer MAG Partners and will eventually include Jersey Mike’s, BK Lobster and Urbano Tex-Mex. “It’s a beautiful risk to take with a brand like mine,” Cole said of the project. “I’m confident that people are going to come and show up, and they’re going to be excited about it.”

Cole, a former TV producer, started Slutty Vegan in Atlanta in 2018, buildng a cult following that includes celebrities like 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 years in the making. In 2022, Cole told radio station 92Q, “I gotta come back home.” Northwood Commons later announced she would be opening a branch there; Parks declined to comment on that location.

The social media account for Slutty Vegan has teased the opening date for the Baltimore eatery 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 peering into a Slutty Vegan bag.

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