Martha Lou's second location will open Wed. April 5

It’s official, 87-year-old Ms. Martha Lou Gadsden will unlock the doors of her second restaurant this Wed. April 5.

Officially named Martha Lou’s Kitchen No. 2 Love and Happiness Catering will operate at 2000-Q McMillan Ave. in North Charleston under the leadership of Gadsden’s granddaughter Melanie Alston.

But, as Alston told us back in February, her grandmother’s hands will be all over the space and menu. Martha Lou’s Kitchen No. 2 will serve some new vegetarian items Alston plans to bring to the table but will ultimately feature Gadsden’s classics.

And that’s great news for everyone. As the New York Times food editor Sam Sifton wrote in his 2011 profile of Sean Brock, “no discussion of excellence in Southern cooking in Charleston can really be complete without a visit to Martha Lou’s Kitchen.” We don’t disagree and thanks to Alston’s enterprising work, now even more fried chicken, lima bean, and corn bread enthusiasts will get a taste.

“In the cosmology of Southern cooking, Martha Lou’s is no dwarf planet. It is close to the sun itself,” Sifton wrote. Lucky us, we get double her light.

Martha Lou’s Kitchen No. 2 Love and Happiness Catering will be open from Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
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