Naijha Wright-Brown, owner of Mount Vernon-based vegan soul food spot The Land of Kush, enjoys getting out of her own kitchen to dine at other restaurants around the city. However, she’s grown tired of servers offering her a salad as her only option or, worse, being urged to head around the corner for something suiting her dietary restrictions.
“I was offended by that,” she said of the suggestion. “The vegans are out there, and people need to understand that there is a market, and if you’re a restaurant then you have to have more than salad.”
Wright-Brown linked up with staff from Hampden’s vegan-friendly Golden West Café to see if they could recruit other restaurant for a citywide culinary event geared toward Baltimore’s non-animal consumers, if even just for a week. From their collab, Baltimore’s first-ever Vegan Restaurant Week was born.
More than 30 restaurants have signed on. Running through Aug. 26, participating eateries around the city will be offering a variety of vegan dishes, some with one or only a few options, others a smorgasbord. Unlike regular Baltimore Restaurant Week, there won’t be a prix fixe menu of any kind. In fact, Sam Juengel, owner of Golden West, said prices will be kept relatively low to try to keep it open to diners of all incomes.
Featured eateries will include both Land of Kush and Golden West, of course, as well as Miss Shirley’s Café, HomeSlyce Pizza Bar, Encantada, The Outpost American Tavern, and Stall 11 in Remington’s R. House, among others.
Click here for a list of all featured and participating restaurants in Baltimore Vegan Restaurant Week, which runs from Aug. 18-26.
Read the complete story at Baltimore Fishbowl.
Top photo: Vegan pizzas from HomeSlyce. Photo by Balance Photography.
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