Another vegan restaurant in Baltimore turns to meat to stay in business

Customers who place an order at Chihuahua Brothers’ new location in Midtown-Belvedere can now select one of two options for their meals: veganos or carnivoro.

The vegan taco business, which debuted in 2021, added meat options to its menu, a move its founder hopes will help the restaurant cast a wider net for diners as it adapts to its home at 58 W. Biddle St., which opened this month.

“It’s harder to pull everybody into a restaurant that just says ‘vegan’ on it because of that word,” owner Kevyn Matthews said. “The best way to do anything is to bring people to the dinner table.”

Despite a recent explosion in vegan offerings — and the increasing sophistication of plant-based substitutes for meat — the past few years have been tough for the vegan food world.

Beyond Meat, previously a star of the plant-based marketplace, has suffered declining sales; its stock price plunged from $239 per share in 2019 to under $3 today. Slutty Vegan founder and Baltimore native Pinky Cole cited a challenging marketplace for vegan eateries as one of the reasons for the closure of several of the company’s nationwide branches.

The rise in vegan restaurants locally, including Slutty Vegan and Bar Vegan in Baltimore Peninsula and Oleum in Fells Point, has also meant increased competition for existing plant-based businesses.

“I don’t want this place to end up like all these other spots that cater to one group,” Matthews said. “There’s not a whole lot of vegans in Baltimore.”

He’s already faced pushback from some customers about the decision to add meat. One woman accused him of being personally responsible for animals dying. “That’s a bit much,” he said. His goal, rather, is to make sure “we have more options for everybody,” he said. “People who are vegan don’t deserve to go out with their friends and only eat a fucking bowl of rice.”

Matthews isn’t the first local vegan restaurateur to incorporate meat into their menu. In January, R. House stall Koshary Corner began offering customers choices like halal beef and chicken alongside its plant-based options. Owner Iman Moussa said she made the decision as a means to keep her struggling business afloat; her only options were to diversify or to close. While the move lost her some customers, Moussa said it helped her not only remain in operation, but grow. This fall, she’s opening a branch of Koshary Corner on the campus of Johns Hopkins University — an expansion she said she’s not sure would have happened if the restaurant was still vegan.

Like Matthews, Moussa sees value in offering a menu that includes meat but is still centered around vegan items. “There’s so much power when menus are built around plant-based,” she said.

The switch from vegan eatery to a restaurant that serves meat marks the latest pivot for Matthews, a former musician and longtime caterer and chef who has worked with renowned chef José Andrés. Matthews previously ran Baltimore’s The Dog Chef Cafe, where local canines could feast on delicacies like quinoa sushi. He and his wife, Meredith Brown, who have eight dogs — including one chihuahua — also own the canine hotel Woofotel, located near Chihuahua Brothers.

The idea for Chihuahua Brothers was inspired in part by Brown, a longtime vegan who said she struggled to find food options when they began dating. “He always felt bad for me. I’d be ordering french fries and a side salad,” Brown said.

“He wanted to create an experience where I could get absolutely everything on the menu.”

After starting as a food truck, the concept eventually moved into a brick-and-mortar location at East 32nd Street and Greenmount Avenue, inside a building that had once been part of the Little Tavern Shops hamburger chain.

But Chihuahua Brothers struggled at that location, which needed extensive repairs, and Matthews had ambitions beyond the fast-food realm. “I didn’t want to really become a Taco Bell,” he said.

His new spot in Midtown-Belvedere, which will have its grand opening this month, sits just across from the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in a subterranean space that sat vacant for many years. Having long lived and worked in the area, Brown said she thinks Midtown-Belvedere and Mount Vernon have been lacking in places for residents to meet up and hang out. She and Matthews hope Chihuahua Brothers will offer that to the community. “It’s a very comfy, cozy spot,” Brown said.

Matthews’ culinary background made it easy to expand the menu. “If you’re a chef, you have to be able to cook everything,” he said, noting that he takes precautions to prevent cross contamination between ingredients. In addition to meat and vegan versions of items like burritos, quesadillas and birria tacos, Matthews’ new location has a liquor license and a full bar.

While the restaurant is currently accepting only takeout and delivery orders, Matthews will soon offer on-premise dining. Chihuahua Brothers won’t have servers though; customers will place their orders via tablet or at the kiosk near the restaurant’s entrance.

As they wait for their food, patrons can snack on complimentary Mexican popcorn. The dish is dusted with chili lime seasoning and a vegan version of Parmesan — a topping Matthews said tastes better than regular cheese.