Ponce City Market Now Includes a Restaurant Serving Vegan Cheesesteaks

Slutty Vegan founder Aisha “Pinky” Cole and Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks owner Derrick Hayes have teamed up once again, this time to launch a new restaurant together called Dinkies. The name combines Dave and Pinky together.

Located inside Cole’s newly opened Ponce City Market restaurant and cocktail bar Bar Vegan, Dinkies serves vegan versions of Big Dave’s cheesesteaks and egg rolls as well as cauliflower wings, tater tots, and sweet potato tots.

The pair already have plans to expand Dinkies to other locations.

Last summer, Cole and Hayes helped purchase a car for Tomika Miller, the widow of Rayshard Brooks. They will provide life insurance policies and scholarships for his four children to attend Cole’s alma mater, Clark Atlanta University. Brooks was shot and killed by Atlanta police office Garrett Rolfe in a Wendy’s parking lot off of University Avenue on the evening of June 12, 2020.

Cole, who calls partnering with Hayes in Dinkies a “no brainer”, opened her second Slutty Vegan location last summer in Jonesboro, Georgia, followed by a third location on Edgewood Avenue in the Old Fourth Ward in October. The original location resides in the Westview neighborhood. Cole is currently working on opening her fourth Slutty Vegan restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama.

The success of her burgeoning vegan restaurant empire prompted Cole to found the Pinky Cole Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on empowering Black entrepreneurship and providing financial resources and other assistance to small businesses in the Atlanta community.

Hayes opened a Doraville location of Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks in November. A west Philadelphia native, Hayes first opened Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks four years ago on Winters Chapel Road inside a Shell gas station. The restaurant quickly became a hit and moved to a larger location on Forsyth Street in downtown Atlanta in 2019. Last fall, Hayes added a food truck to the mix, serving Big Dave’s super popular egg rolls. Like Cole, Hayes is often involved in philanthropic work and charity events throughout Atlanta.

Take a look at the menu:

Open 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Takeout available. Masks required.

• Bar Vegan Brings Cocktail Theater to Ponce City Market When It Opens This Weekend [EATL]
• Prepare for Those Lines as Slutty Vegan Opens This Weekend on Edgewood Avenue [EATL]
• Two Atlanta Restaurateurs Step Up to Help the Family of Rayshard Brooks [EATL]