By Ellina Buettner
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Kevyn Matthews likes to serve up lots of tasty treats at his Baltimore café.
There are doughnuts, cupcakes, cookies, moon pies, and fresh dishes with his very best chicken, beef and salmon recipes made from local and natural ingreidents.
But don’t expect to eat any of them if you are human. These foods are for dogs only.
Alongside his wife Meredith Brown, 2-year-old son Max, Doberman pincher, pit bull and two shepherds, Matthews has been running The Dog Chef Café since 2014 in hopes of bringing a healthier, more wholesome and locally-sourced food alternative to pooches of all kinds in the Baltimore region.
He draws customers from all over the area – including some who come from more than an hour away – who are looking for a higher quality food than they can get from a traditional pet store.
“If it’s not good enough for me to eat, I won’t feed it to my dog,” Matthews said. “A lot of people will buy these foods they see on the shelf, and then wonder why their dog is at the vet when the box said it was the best food on the planet.”
Through creating specialized meal plans ranging from $25 to $300, he’s been able to treat dogs with medical problems like itchy skin, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and liver and kidney failure, all of which he believes is most commonly caused by poor nutrition.
“There is no comparison,” said Matthews, whose store is located at 863 N. Howard St. in the Mount Vernon section of Baltimore. “They [house-made meals] are healthier because I’ve spent years studying the anatomy of dogs, how they digest food properly, and what their origins are. So, when you know all those things, you can start making food literally from scratch, the way it should be done.”
The dog chef began his career in 2005 when he couldn’t find a brand of dog food that he trusted to feed to his new Doberman. He started talking to holistic veterinarians and creating original recipes that did not include preservatives or cooked meats, and after a while, he noticed that his dog had more energy and a noticeably shinier coat. He recalls having several conversations with other pet owners in the community about his dog’s diet adjustments, and eventually, he gained a following.
“It’s funny that a lot of people go to their veterinarian and that veterinarian prescribes them science diets, and they have liver or kidney failure after,” Matthews said. “I realized a lot of folks were paying to that service [to cure dogs], which is really expensive. This business is so everyday people can enjoy some of the [premium] experiences.”
Among these is Monique Beutel, a longtime Dog Chef Café regular. The Southside Baltimore resident frequents the shop a few times per week to get her pit bull’s favorite menu items, which include Indus chicken dish—made with local meat, carrots, kale, sweet potato, and olive oil— and moon pies—made with chickpea flour and a fresh berry filling.
“There’s not too much that she doesn’t like, quite frankly,” Beutel said. “Sometimes I bring Maxine here, sometimes I don’t. But she loves it here, and even if I don’t bring her, it’s always good to meet other people with dogs because there’s a certain energy, community.”
Leigh Wright, a customer from Havre de Grace, drove about an hour to visit the shop so that her Pomeranian named Fox could try the featured samples. She said she’s been following the dog chef on Facebook for two years and was excited to meet him in person for the first time at a recent food tasting. She appreciates what he does because she often cooks homemade meals for her dog, who is a picky eater and particularly hates vegetables.
“You can give me rest for a couple of days,” Wright joked with Matthews. “She pretty much eats whatever we eat, and we eat mostly organic and grass-fed food because we’re very health conscious. But, I think I give her too much food, and that’s not healthy.”
As Fox was indulging on the three small scoops of the dog chef’s chicken, beef and salmon recipes, Wright and Matthews talked about the Pomeranian’s current diet and goal to lose three pounds.
He gave her advice on how to portion the food relative to the breed and what she could do to incorporate veggies in a way that Fox would want to eat them. Wright left the shop with the tips and a pumpkin “pupcake,”—made with Greek yogurt icing—and said she can’t wait to come back to buy a meal plan during the summertime when she leaves for a three-week vacation.
“With something like this, you have options,” Matthews said. “You don’t have to just go and get food out of a bag and have that impersonal experience at a pet store.”
Shannon Shaw, owner of two poodles, came in to pay for a cake order she had placed earlier on the phone for Paris’ 9th birthday on April 26. As her dogs also dug into the free food samples, she discussed with Matthews the colors she wanted for the cake, and he threw in the idea of drawing the Eiffel Tower on it.
Shaw heard about the café recently from a friend who works in a local hospital—where the shop’s pupcakes are sold—and since then, she’s been coming in consistently for healthy treats. After meeting the dog chef and learning about his concerns with nutrition, Shaw said she’s been seriously considering starting a meal plan for both Paris and Basil.
“Healthy food is very important,” Shaw said. “This is a lot more fresh, and the other stuff isn’t. We’re thinking about switching over.”
Matthews gave Shaw a tour of the shop and invited her to host the birthday party in the back room if it happens to outgrow her house, a space that he’s thinking about converting into a mini Airbnb for dogs whose owners need a part-time dog sitter.
When she left, Matthews picked up his son, grabbed him a second popsicle out of the freezer that houses the homemade doggie ice cream, changed the radio station to something more upbeat, and watched the light rail pass by from the front window as he waited for a new customer to greet.
“This is about a community fresh pet store,” Matthews said. “You’re meeting the person who makes the food. There’s a human there. There’s no other world where you can do that.”