If the food at Luther’s Market + Noodle Shop is its heart, then owners Kiki and Hudson Luthringshausen are its soul.
The mother-son duo opened the market at 227 Rutledge Ave. in June 2026 after operating a Lowcountry food truck for several years. The brick-and-mortar location highlights the global comfort food and fresh pasta that won over legions of fans during Luther’s food truck days. It offers everything from a quick lunch to a one-stop shop to stock your kitchen.
For Chicago natives Kiki and Hudson, food has always been a pillar. Kiki — known affectionately as Mama Keeks — comes from a large Italian family. She started making gnocchi at age 6 with her grandmother and mother, and shared this tradition with her children. Homecooked meals and travel were woven into the fabric of their family.
Kiki’s culinary background is vast. She was in the grocery business for six years at beloved Chicago chain Mariano’s, had a public relations firm representing clients in the food and beverage world, worked at Michelin-starred Chicago restaurant Boka to learn back-of-house operations and had a stint at Salthouse Catering when she first moved to Charleston.
Hudson comes from academia, but grew up with flavors always flowing, he recalled. He studied English, got a master’s degree in the same field and was a teaching fellow with a focus on rhetoric. Since moving to Charleston, he has taught English and rhetoric at the College of Charleston.
The pair always shared a love of food as well as a dream to open a restaurant together. Eventually Charleston lured Kiki with its coastal location and opportunity to work closely with farmers. Hudson followed. The food truck was born.
California-inspired cuisine The two years spent on the food truck gave time to the Luthringshausens to refine their culinary vision as well as a chance to find the right location. Upon the closure of Pinot and Provisions, the former occupant of the space on Rutledge, everything fell into place.
Kiki references California cuisine, specifically two favorite Los Angeles restaurants — Gjelina and Gjusta — as the inspiration for Luther’s farm table offerings.
“I loved that concept and hadn’t really seen it anywhere else,” Kiki said. “If you’ve been to Gjusta, they would bring out these gorgeous bowls and trays of fresh produce, dressed beautifully but very simple with thought to all the ingredients. That really became my ultimate goal. I want someone to walk in to pick up dinner and fresh pasta that we just made along with the salads.”
The menu at Luther’s is a celebration of Charleston ingredients. If Nathan Hood from Raven Farms comes in with beautiful mushrooms, you might find a salad with blue oyster, lion’s mane and black pearl king trumpets. Each day offers three sandwiches including a Parisian-inspired ham, butter and brie on Grit Bakery baguette, a mortadella with straciatella and pesto and a “Basic Bitch” turkey with white cheddar, Dijon and arugula.
The sauce rotation includes “gumbolo” — a marriage of bolognese and gumbo — Thai peanut, Cajun and pesto. A chickpea and farro salad uses Anson Mills farro and a chili crisp potato salad uses Storey Farms hard-boiled eggs. The freezer might have spicy beef enchiladas or a Mediterranean chicken bake.
Hudson’s baby is the pasta program.
It features options that are handmade and produced using a bronze die extruder, which is a machine that creates texture on the pasta’s surface, helping it hold sauce better. Gluten-free and vegan pastas are available. Dumplings use Chinese wheat flour.
Hudson’s brother Thibault, a chef at Sullivan’s Fish Camp, helps at the market one day a week and oversees the butter program at Luther’s. Rotating “melt and toss” butter flavors might include roasted tomato or Provencal with olives, capers and shallots.
The pantry and its oils, vinegars and cookbooks are also an integral part of the market.
Kiki said the pantry came from her time at Mariano’s “sourcing products and traveling all over the world looking for different culinary and artisanal products that people weren’t finding.” She cooks with much of what’s in the pantry.
“My goal here was to be a petite market that highlights really good ingredients that you can use day in and day out,” she said.
Hudson added that growing up, home had a room called the pantry that Kiki created in a walk-in closet.
“That’s why I wanted to call it the pantry,” he said. “To me, that’s why we started this. Home-cooking. There’s the professional side to it, but it does really harken back to how we grew up and how we live.”
Next up at Luther’s
Eventually Luther’s will add beer and wine as well as “crave boards” — pre-made cheese and charcuterie offerings perfect for the boat or a beach. Over the next few months, look for an expanded sandwich offering including a spicy mortadella.
Kiki and Hudson said they plan to continue offering noodle-making classes and private pasta classes are also available. There will be pop-ups with hot-to-go options, and a more traditional restaurant might be a possibility down the road.
What will stay the same is the commitment to great food and a space that feels like being welcomed into someone’s home.
“What’s been surprising for me is that our hospitality has resonated with people,” Hudson said. “People enjoy hanging out in the shop. What’s fun about the way we’re doing it is that there’s really no back of house or front of house. It’s just the house. It’s us.”
Luther’s Market is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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