Little Line Kitchen and Provisions
When you meet Little Line owner Wendy Gleim, she’ll probably be fresh off biscuit prep, covered in spatters of flour, and fully embodying her owner-operator moniker. A true F&B industry veteran, Gleim came to Charleston in the early ‘90s to attend the fabled culinary program at Johnson & Wales (J&W had a satellite campus in Charleston from 1984-2006 and its graduates played a pivotal role in kicking off Charleston as the bona fide food destination that it is today). After spending two decades running a local catering company, Gleim and her husband, Jeff, opened Little Line Kitchen & Provisions in the fall of 2021.
Tucked around a quiet corner, in a deeply historic building at 176 Line St., Little Line provides all-day breakfast, salads and sandwiches to a growing crowd of dedicated fans.
From groups of MUSC nurses that have weekly breakfast meet ups after a long shift, to the bleary-eyed F&B crowd that shuffles in for a pick-me-up on Mondays, Little Line serves up a bit more than good food (although the menu is quite stellar). Little Line immediately puts customers at ease with natural lighting, cozy decor and an approachable menu. Comfort food classics are elevated, yet still recognizable and, with a wealth of vegan and vegetarian options dotted throughout the menu, there is something for everyone who walks through the door.
“I wanted a place that was deeply personal, and may not always make sense. We’ve tried [a lot of] different things since we’ve opened. It’s really meaningful to me that different groups of people have found us and made us part of their ritual,” Gleim says.
The BOGO Bagel special is available on “Kindness Mondays’, breakfast or lunch is available all day, and a full meal at an extremely reasonable price point. The duo makes a point to source local ingredients whenever possible and have retail shelves full of local goods available to take home. Keeping sustainability top of mind, Little Line just launched a composting program and tries to run an overall “lean ship”, finding multiple uses for most ingredients and ascribing to the “quality over quantity” method for staffing.
From their “soft opening” announcement, which included handwritten signs on kraft paper-covered windows, every choice made at Little Line has been intentional. Originally built in the late-20s, the building at 176 Line has as much charm and backstory as the folks inhabiting it, and Gleim wants to respect and honor that history.
“There have been about 17 businesses here, since the 20s,” says Gleim, “and the list essentially tells the story of the neighborhood. The biggie though, is that this building was Nana’s Soul & Seafood before us and that’s an iconic [Charleston] business.”
