The Red Lentil

I am always looking for a new vegetarian restaurant to try out. Recently I found a poster on a bulletin board at Southern advertising for a new vegetarian restaurant in New Haven called The Red Lentil. They recently opened in July of 2011. There is another Red Lentil restaurant in Watertown, Massachusetts. They are open for lunch and dinner seven days a week and for brunch on Sundays. The restaurant is located on Temple Street in downtown New Haven. It is a little hard to find parking but it was totally worth the trouble. We went at a perfect time because by the time we were leaving there was a line of people waiting to get a table. The restaurant has an open floor plan which can cause it to be a little loud. But other than that the restaurant was extremely cute with a green and red theme. The food was the more important part. I took my friend Ali along because she is always willing to try new vegan/vegetarian restaurants with me. We started off with the hummus platter as an appetizer. This came with pita slices and three different types of hummus. Each one was amazing and I couldn’t pick my favorite because they were all good in their own way. 

Hummus Platter

Pita slices topped with chipotle hummus and accompanied with baba ganoush (flame-broiled eggplant), red pepper dip, and olives.

For our entree’s we decided to choose two options and split them because we had so many that we wanted to try. After taking forever to decide we settled on the Shepherd’s Pie and the Moussaka pizza. My description would not even do them justice because they were that good. The shepherd’s pie was not your typical vegetarian shepherd’s pie but the flavor combinations worked so well together that it was so much better than the traditional. The best part was the savory flavors mixed with the sweet flavor of the sweet potato. 

Shepherd’s Pie

Layered mashed yukon gold potatoes and sweet potato, soy sausage, corn kernel, onion, seasonal vegetables, spinach, baked and served with vegan cashew gravy and maple balsamic. Drizzled with cilantro sunflower pesto.
$16.00

I can’t say enough about the Moussaka Pizza. The goat cheese was a perfect addition to this pizza. You could also make this gluten free and vegan if you wanted. 

Moussaka Pizza

Grilled eggplant, grilled onion, roasted red pepper, goat cheese and mozzarella cheese topped with fresh basil.
$12.50 (substitute gluten-free crust for $3.00. Substitute vegan cheese for $2.00)

Overall this was an amazing restaurant and I highly recommend checking it out if your are in the New Haven area. We were so full from all that we ate that we skipped dessert but they had many vegan options.  

Ali at our pretty table =)