Pinky’s Eatery opens in Owings
Offers southern creole-inspired home cooking
“We’re going to pick those greens. We’re going to shuck that corn,” says Randy Peaches, owner of Pinky’s Eatery located at 7995 Solomons Island Road in Owings.
Pinky’s Eatery serves made-to-order entrees, stacked sandwiches and sides of creole southern cuisines, seafood dinners and sandwiches, and offers local seafood specialties when in season.
“When you think of southern, you think of Mississippi,” Peaches said. “But, in Louisiana you either have creole or you have cajun. Cajun is more of a French-influenced type of cuisine. Creole is more of a cuisine of European and black descent. That’s where you get your etouffees … your shrimp creole, your red sauces.”
Peaches said he was born and raised in Vicksburg, Miss., and was taught by his father how to prepare and cook foods. He went to Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., and said he later moved to Chicago where he discovered his passion to cook for a living.
When a job opportunity knocked in Washington, D.C., Peaches said he answered with a move to the Mar yland area, and brought his love of cooking along for the ride.
“I started attending a little church down the street in Alexandria from my office ... we used to have two services on Sunday,” Peaches said. “Everybody used to go to the first ser vice and then just mingle around, and sometimes go to the second ser vice because the preaching was really good.”
“So, I presented an idea to our pastor … I had that bug of cooking,” he said. “In 2004, I started doing breakfast between services there, at the church. Little did I know that would become my captive audience who would support me and give me that motivation to be able to step out like I have. From the church it spread out into the community, and that’s where my catering service grew out of.”
With the support of his wife and the help of a close family friend, Peaches turned his passion to cook and ser ve food into a fulltime venture with the launch of Pinky’s Eatery earlier this year. Local resident Keith Rawlings Sr. manages the restaurant, and Rawlings’ son, Keith Rawlings Jr., puts his culinary arts degree to work in the kitchen as the restaurant’s executive chef.
“This is a working of people coming together in this area, right here, to put something together that everybody had a passion for,” Peaches said. “But, I guess I was the catalyst to just start it.”
“It’s a blessing because I know that I wouldn’t have been able to do it by myself,” Peaches added. “Things are going extremely well. The community has really embraced us.”
Pinky’s Eater y opens Friday through Sunday, offering smoked ribs, smothered pork chops, fried fish and fried chicken, jerk chicken, fried shrimp, crawfish etouffee, Maryland crab cakes, Mar yland soft shell crab sandwiches and rockfish when in season, 100 percent grass-fed beef hamburger, shrimp po-boy sandwiches, and more. The restaurant also offers sides of macaroni and cheese, green beans, collards and cabbage, fried corn on the cob, potato salad, candied yams, rice pilaf and fries.
“I don’t want to cut any corners. I don’t want to open up a can of greens or a can of green beans,” Peaches said. “That’s the thing we want to offer our customers — fresh ingredients. I don’t care if I’ve got just four or five items up there, I want it to be fresh.”
Toni Menna of Owings said she has been a regular customer at Pinky’s Eatery. “The first thing I had was the fried chicken, very good. They cook it to order,” Menna said. “And then the second time I stopped by, I got the catfish … it was very good. We had the smothered pork chops, they’re delicious … all the sides, I’ve had the yams, the string beans, the greens and cabbage, that’s very good. We try to get here ever y week … we need more restaurants like this that have good, home-cooked foods.”
Peaches said he’s planning an upcoming outdoor event for the community to join in and celebrate the opening of the restaurant, and that he looks to add a weekend breakfast buffet, as well as a Sunday brunch.
“It’s the spot for good food, period,” Peaches said.
For more information on Pinky’s Eatery, or to view the restaurant’s menu and hours of operation, go to www. facebook.com/pinkyseaterymd/.