Principle is a new restaurant, located right in the middle of the downtown Kalamazoo mall. Upon walking in, one is first impressed by the many unique aromas floating around the space. Yet, the visual aspects of the restaurant are amazing in their own right, and have their own story. Much of the furniture in Principle, including many of the chairs and tables, have been made from reclaimed wood. Not only is this environmentally admirable, but what is even neater is that the owner of Principle did much of the manual work himself.
In a way, Principle's furniture can be used to explain its entire message. Principle has found ways to reinvent classic recipies to create innovative and delicious new dishes. For instance, one of Principle's desserts is an inverted root beer float, which pairs cream soda and root-beer flavored ice cream instead of the classic combination, replicating the same medley of flavors, but in a new way.
My family and I ordered many dishes, such as chive doughnuts, baked cheese with sweet onion jam, shaved pumpkin salad, grilled broccoli, grilled trout, Korean barbeque chicken wings, and an ice cream sundae. All of the dishes were impressive in their own right, but my favorite was the baked cheese. Baked cheese is not an extremely uncommon dish, yet Principle's baked cheese was incredible; the cheese was paired perfectly with the jam, and the toasted bread had a nice, crunchy texture. The shaved pumpkin salad was also an interesting addition to our meal. Not only was this plate gorgeous to look at, but the pumpkin shavings were actually pickled, so the flavor was not only refreshing, but also extremely focused. Again, all of the things that we tried on the menu were good, but if you go to Principle, I would definitely recommend getting the baked cheese.
Although still very new to the Downtown food scene, Principle will have no problem becoming recognized as part of Downtown Kalamazoo's thriving culture. Principle creates new variations on timeless classics that are definitely worth trying, and if you are in the area, I hope that you are able to stop by Principle and enjoy their fantastic food.
