There has always been a shortage of pure vegetarian restaurants in Kalamazoo.  There have been those restaurants that have a few good choices of traditional vegetarian meals like a salad and a veggie burger. But those places also include meat dishes. A lot of meat dishes.

Not this one. Fuel is a pure vegetarian restaurant. They include vegetarian, vegan, and raw foods. Fuel is located on the corner of2103 Burdick St.and Alcott St. by the Citgo gas station.

At first, Fuel is hard to spot. The building is white and small. Fuel is hard to spot against all the other buildings when driving. Also, it does not have a big parking lot which makes it hard to notice and park. The small exterior only makes it more friendly than other restaurants.

The interior is even better. The walls are a nice, lively green and lots of paintings give this building an artistic flare. What really caught my eye were the doors that separate the tables from one another. The doors are decorated with colorful embedded broken mugs and plates. They add a nice flare to the interior.

The menu was also a surprise. There are many choices to choose from at Fuel. There are different soups and salads to choose from including a pot licker soup and a greens and red salad which includes lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber. Several main course dishes on the menu are raw lasagna, raw barbecue and American refueled. The raw lasagna is a sliced zucchini with raw ricotta and pepper tomato sauce. The raw barbecue is sliced mushrooms covered in barbecue sauce. The American refueled is a Peruvian seasoned burgerish on top of French fries.

I decided to try the pasta of the day, which happened to be Torn Pasta with Spicy Eggplant and Red Sauce. Before receiving my food, I had no idea what to expect tastewise since I have never had eggplant.

It was delicious. Despite the name, the sauce was not that spicy. There was a little spice but not enough to need a drink of water. The eggplant also added a nice taste to the sauce which I was not expecting. Overall, the pasta was a good choice to have after a lazy day.

After the main course, we also had a dessert. We decided to have the Banana Fritters with honey. When they came out, the Banana Fritters were hot and were hard to pick up. The banana taste did not overpower my taste buds, neither did the honey. The taste was balanced; the Banana Fritters were perfect.

The prices were also perfect. For the amount and quality of the food, I was very happy with the prices. The price came to $32.85 for two main courses, a tea and banana fritters.

Finally, the staff was really nice. The waitress and host offered advice, conversation, and recommendations of what was good on the menu. The chef also made an appearance to one table to see if their food was ok.

Other main courses that Fuel offers are the Pasta Stack, the Cuban Stack, and the Southern Stack. The Pasta stack is the pasta of the day. The Cuban stack is mashed plantains with vegan chickenish or tofu. The Southern Stack is wheat crusted chickenish with black eyed peas.

Fuel is currently opened Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. To reserve a table for a time, call 269-343-0788 or email [email protected]. Fuel also offers takeout during these times.