New Restaurant Alert: Fuel Cafe on Madison

Yesterday, I stopped by midtown’s newest restaurant, Fuel Cafe, for  lunch. I had the restaurant to myself, which was unsurprising, given that I was eating lunch at 4 p.m.

Inside Fuel Cafe, Memphis, Tenn.

Fuel is in the old Petra space at Hadley’s Garage on Madison. The interior looks totally different than it did during the Petra days – it’s brighter, sunnier, and a bit more inviting. The patio isn’t finished yet, but when it is, I can see wanting to spend a lot of time there.

The lunch menu is fairly thorough – there are sandwiches, salads, appetizers (like a cheese plate) and some entrees, most of which are in the $8 – $10 range. I ordered salmon and whitefish cakes and a side of tomato soup.

Salmon Cakes and Tomato Soup from Fuel Cafe, Memphis, Tenn.

The salmon cakes were kind of like crab cakes. They were lightly fried and filled with salmon, whitefish, capers and onions. They could have done with a bit more seasoning, but they were pretty delicious. The soup was really good. It was creamy and had a little bit of a kick to it.

Chef Carrie Mitchum told me that Fuel has only been open for about a week, but the response has been positive so far. All of the meat served at Fuel is humane, organic, and has no additives and the fish is all wild-caught. The restaurant is planning to go through Project Greenfork certification soon.

Fuel Cafe is open for lunch and dinner daily. Lunch prices range from $7-$15, and all dinner entrees are less than $20.

Go there:

Fuel Cafe

1761 Madison

Memphis, TN 38104

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