Le Botaniste opens at Belmont Park Village

Once in a blue moon, you'll eat something at a restaurant and think, "Man I wish I could make this at home." This is likely to happen at Le Botaniste, a new spot that puts out beautiful vegan bowls. If you're into cooking healthy, the flavors are going to stick in your head. And a few days later you might find yourself Googling, "turmeric pickled onions recipe."

This Manhattan-based chain opened its first Long Island outpost in March at the new Belmont Park Village outdoor mall adjacent to UBS Arena in Elmont. The concept is a partnership between Belgian restaurateurs Laurent Francois and Alain Coumont of the popular bakery chain Le Pain Quotidien. The two opened the first Le Botaniste in Belgium in 2015, and later branched out to Manhattan with six stores. It sells natural wine, and all the food is organic, plant-based and also gluten-free, according to the company's website. 

Now all this may not be a selling point for everyone. But the flavors just work, even if the concept is a little intimidating at first. The shiny new space looks ripped from a design magazine, with a long salad bar and fancy stews in Le Creuset pots. A staffer opens all the lids to do a menu explainer over the indie cool music. You can make your own grain bowl with a sauce and toppings for $15.95, but first-timers will be better served getting a curated bowl, which is served in Japanese ceramics.

If you're with another person, consider ordering three bowls to share. The portions are fine, but don't really load you up in the same way they do at other salad spots. On a recent afternoon the employee recommends the Tutti veggie pasta ($15.50) with an add-on of white beans. The gluten-free fusilli noodles are made with quinoa and don't have quite the chew of your regular pasta, but it's actually nice to have a light bite with all the veggies and roasted squash. The bowl is topped with an explosive neon yellow turmeric lemon hummus, which defies expectations by tasting great.

Another selection, the Tibetan mama ($15.50), features a lush coconut peanut butter curry that's pooled onto nutty brown rice. It's topped with crisp broccoli and greens, along with strips of sour kimchi that punch through the richness. But the dish to order here is the spicy chili sin carne ($15.50), which was named one of the best vegan chilis in the United States, by VegOut Magazine. The bowl is loaded up with that tomato-y bean chili, its flavor is so punchy that you don't miss the meat. But those neon yellow turmeric onions really push it to a new level.   

Le Botaniste closes early so it's really better for lunch. But the weather is nice right now and it's worth a trip so you can stroll around the outdoor mall afterward. After this meal, you may even still feel like trying on some clothing. 

Le Botaniste, inside the Belmont Park Village at 2501 Hempstead Tpke. Suite E9a, Elmont, 718-535-6495, lebotaniste.us. Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 

By Andi Berlin

andi.berlin@newsday.com

Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.