Lusso Pasta and Market brings pasta shop and Italian market to McKinney

Downtown McKinney is about to get a pasta stop that works like a market, a deli and a casual lunch counter all at once. Lusso Pasta and Market, owned by Megan Lux and her husband, David, is slated to open Sept. 1 in the former Hugs Cafe space at 224 E. Virginia St.

The pitch is broader than a standard Italian restaurant. Lusso is building around imported pantry goods and kitchen items from Italy, plus a deli counter stocked with aged meats and cheeses. Shoppers will also find pastries, focaccia pizza, pasta kits and ready-made bowls, so the same visit can cover tonight’s dinner and the ingredients for the next one.

That hybrid model is the whole point. Lux said guests will be able to take pasta and sauce home to cook, or have a bowl made on the spot and eat it in the restaurant or walk around the square with it. Lusso’s website says the business is currently online only and is working toward a brick-and-mortar location in historic downtown McKinney, a move that fits the owners’ stated goal of bringing “the heart of Italian cuisine and family” to customers.

The new pasta shop is taking over a familiar downtown address with its own history. Hugs Cafe, founded in 2013 by Ruth Thompson to employ and train adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, closed its downtown McKinney location at 224 E. Virginia St. on May 30. The organization is moving to a new 13,500-square-foot headquarters at 221 Andrews St. in East McKinney, where a grand opening is planned for July 2.

For McKinney’s food scene, the shift is more than a tenant swap. Hugs Cafe built its reputation as a mission-driven cafe; Lusso is aiming at a different kind of daily habit, one built around pasta, retail browsing and quick service in the same stop. That is the kind of setup that can change how people use downtown: not just for a sit-down meal, but for a bowl on the bench, a pasta kit for home and a few imported extras tucked into the bag on the way out.