Hell’s Kitchen Chef Cat Eyes Station North For Cherry Street Diner Debut

Catina “Chef Cat” Smith is working on Cherry Street Diner, her first standalone restaurant, and says she hopes to open in 2027 with Station North or Central Baltimore as the likely landing spot. The plan comes after years of pop-ups, community programming, and slow-and-steady customer building while she has been running a shared commissary kitchen in the city.

As reported by WBAL NewsRadio, Smith is still in the early planning stages for Cherry Street Diner and has been introducing potential customers to the brand through pop-ups across Baltimore. WBAL notes that its reporting stems from the Baltimore Business Journal and that Smith’s resume includes time at Magdalena in Mt. Vernon and the now-closed Alexander Brown restaurant downtown.

From Shared Kitchen To Storefront

Smith co-founded Our Time Kitchen, a member-driven commissary and marketplace that describes itself as an incubator for minority- and women-owned food businesses. She has used that space to test menus, try out collaborations, and refine her comfort food approach. The commissary model has allowed her to build an audience and experiment with diner-style dishes without taking on the cost of a full buildout.

Pop-Ups, Partnerships And Publicity

Her game plan so far has leaned on pop-ups, tasting dinners, and brand collaborations to prove there is demand for a diner concept before she signs a lease. Local profiles, including a feature in BmoreArt, highlight how those pop-ups, along with classes and community events, have helped Smith grow both a loyal following and a deep bench of collaborators.

What A Diner Could Mean For The Neighborhood

Station North has been pulling in a mix of hospitality projects and creative small businesses, and Smith’s planned diner would add a locally rooted, neighborhood-scale option to that lineup. Coverage of Baltimore’s food scene has tracked that pattern and the emphasis on ownership as a tool for community wealth-building, which fits squarely with Smith’s incubator work. Baltimore Beat and other outlets have been pointing to the city’s momentum as more chefs move from pop-ups to permanent addresses.

Stage Time On Hell’s Kitchen

Smith’s national profile jumped after she competed on Season 24 of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, which brought wider attention to her cooking and gave her a bigger platform to promote pop-ups and partnerships. Local interviews and profiles, including a Q&A in Baltimore Magazine, suggest the TV spotlight has helped her build momentum and connect with new collaborators.

For now, Smith says she will keep fine-tuning a diner menu through pop-ups and community events while she looks for the right lease and funding to pull off a full brick-and-mortar space. Her incubator work and event calendar remain the pipeline to customers and collaborators as she eyes a 2027 opening and continues assembling a local team, according to Our Time Kitchen and other local coverage.