The much-anticipated Fuel on Fifth ‒ the Walker’s Point sibling of the 24-year-old Fuel Cafe in Riverwest ‒ is in the throes of its first (soft) week in business, opening weekdays for breakfast at 8 a.m. The cafe and full-service restaurant/bar occupy a 5,500-square-foot warehouse on 630 S. Fifth St. The café, open daily at 6 a.m., offers a full menu of coffee drinks and baked goods (cookies, cupcakes, empanadas) baked on-site.
The restaurant opens on weekdays at 8 a.m. for breakfast (open for brunch on the weekends).
The space definitely bears the cool, exposed pipes/industrial stamp of an old warehouse, combined with Fuel-apropos painted signage. Café seating includes communal tables on the mezzanine (seen in the photo below).
Seating in the dining room ranges from the bar to booths. The lunch/dinner menu is casual and comfort foody, with specialty plates like chicken biscuit pot pie and “hot dish” (a.k.a, a casserole of ground brisket, carrots, peas, and more topped with hash browns and a poached egg) and house favorites (like steak frites) topping out at $15.
Other disparate lunch/dinner offerings: oysters on the half-shell, a smoked fish and homemade pickle board, Nashville hot wings, kale Caesar salad, lobster roll, toasted cheesy tomato (with upgrade option to Fuel’s trademark Buttafuoco sandwich), a couple of burgers, and a creation called The Gatsby ‒ a riff on the street sandwich (popular in Cape Town, South Africa) whose fillings include bologna, roasted sirloin and French fries on a baguette ($5-$14).
