Leahi Health restaurant - Sumter Landing
 

Leahi Health, a new restaurant that serves light vegetarian fare, opened up yesterday in Sumter on Old Mill Run Avenue. It had been open for several weeks but only serving coffee, tea and smoothies. Now, they have food. Wife and I went there for lunch yesterday, but they were completely out of food, so we had a smoothie. We were not disappointed since we’ve been hoping that The Villages would have a vegie restaurant and the fact that opening day was such a success is promising.

Here's their website with their menu: LeahiHealthTV.com.

Leahi Health is a chain of restaurants; there’s about a half dozen in Hawaii, but none on the mainland, I don’t believe, except this one.

Web site
Menu — Leahi Health The Villages

Hmm, checked out the menu and was very disappointed. A supposedly healthy place, yet there is sugar in just about everything on the menu.

Huh? I don't see the word "sugar" on the menu at all. Which items on the menu are you referring to?

Some consider Fruit and juice as added sugar, natural or not. Then again the grains and seeds will help counter natural sugars

When you’ve been eating low carb for many years hidden sugar becomes easy to spot. It’s just about everywhere on this places menu. Key words include agave, pretty much every dressing/flavor enhancer including balsamic drizzle, maple mustard drizzle, teriyaki, ginger tahini, cilantro lime, thai dressing, shoyu dressing, fruit juices etc…). Basically there is sugar hidden in everything on the menu except for perhaps the Breakfast Taco and The Pesto Pita Pizza, which both come with other carbs (pita bread).

Tahini has 3.2 carbs per tablespoon. If you're eating a low-carb diet, that's pretty low carb. It's also Super-low sugar, since the only sugar would be in the 4-6 drops of lemon juice - less than half a carb, less than 9 calories worth of sugar.

That said - I loathe avocado and blueberries almost equally. I love a good hummus but I'd rather have it with falafel than avocado and kale. Tropical Smoothie is right down the street from me, so I wouldn't ever go all the way to Sumter just for a smoothie. I also am not a fan of foods made to pretend to be other foods - such as coconut "bacon" (quotation marks theirs). Since you pay a premium for the combination of foods included in those combinations, I'd rather just go somewhere else, or make my own at home.

I side with Al Bundy from married with children: For dinner I want some form of dead animal on my plate “

Almost the entire menu's items' ingredient list starts with kale. Because I don't want to impede a small business's chances of success, I will simply say that kale is a no-go for me.

I hate to say it, but this entire restaurant is a no-go for me.

Kale need to be prepared correctly or just outright bitter. Leaves need to be stripped and scrunched to release the bitter fibers. We grow different plants some not edible raw. Not a fan of steaming or pan tossed.

There's an article about the opening in today's local rag in section C4. It includes pictures of some very attractive hulu dancers that were at the opening.
:D

I'm fine with kale, sauteed similarly to sauteed spinach in garlic and olive oil, or raw in salads along with other greens. But the whole avocado/acai/blueberry/quinoa/tofu stuff is just not to my liking at all.

I really REALLY wish someone from Claire Criscuolo's family would come down from New Haven and open up a REAL vegetarian restaurant. Not vegan, not "plant-based." Just vegetarian - which can include eggs and dairy.

Claire's Corner Copia

My #1 choice for lunch there was:

House salad with feta cheese and tahini dressing. It came with a mini-loaf of bread, fresh from the oven, and a pat of butter. In the winter, hot mulled apple cider to drink; in the summer, just ice water with a couple of lemon slices and a few drops of honey. For dessert - her insanely rich, decadent carrot cake OR her Lithuanian coffee cake, which tasted just the way my mom used to make it.

Different strokes for different folks.. I love kale, avocados and blueberries, I do NOT like feta cheese and keep lemon out of my water glass. I prefer our homemade desserts to restaurant fare.

Isn't it wonderful there is something for all of us!:wave:

Gotta love Al Bundy, greatest sitcom character of all time. Poor Al, the great red beast never put anything on his dinner plate.

uh, sorry to break it to ya, but carbs convert to sugar

But, sounds good. I'll definitely try it !

Made it back to Leahi Health a few times this week and they had actual food this time! I want to mention that they don’t serve hot food, the only thing hot is their coffee and tea. Their eight entrees are served as either a salad, on a gluten-free tortilla, on pita bread, or in a bowl. I had the latter.

I started off with the Beet Poke Bowl. When I took a bite, I felt a burst of flavor electrify my mouth. It was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. I also had The Surfer and The Bacon Mustard entries. They were good too.

It’s not a super deluxe vegetarian restaurant that you’d find in a large city. Let’s face it, the Villages could not support a restaurant like that now, or even when Eastport becomes the gargantuan monstrosity that it’s supposed to become. There are not enough people here.

But for now, we have a deluxe vegan smoothie place with incredible food. A real gem. I’ll be back.

LOL, gargantuan. Last time I herd that word used was in the Kill Bill movie, when the character, Elle Driver played by Daryl Hannah, said “the amount of venom delivered by a single bite from a Black Mamba can be gargantuan”. And yes, I agree, based on the latest video posted by the developer, Eastport appears destined to become a gargantuan monstrosity.

I am hearing conflicting stories. Ladies of the Lanai (youtube) interviewed a resident who studied the blue prints for Eastport. He stated people are going to be surprised by how small it is. Take away the sales and rec center, hotel, and wellness, there is not much more. I believe he is connected with local law enforcement. They are concerned about the limited parking. Yet, sales is telling new buyers Eastport is huge. Who is right? I guess we will have wait and see.

I am hoping smaller than expected. Outsiders will not have reason to frequent the square. Without a Villagers ID, there will not be much for them to enjoy.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I do want to add that the Kill Bill movies are some of my favorite and outstandingly done! I never saw Pulp Fiction, so I don't really "get" Quentin Tarentino's style, but after the third time I saw Kill Bill, I really started liking it. It took that many times for me to kinda understand his style and enjoy the film. Eye opening was the siren noise they make is symbolic to what will happen in the scene.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming, I wish the restaurant every success and admire their reach across the Pacific and the continent to open a branch so far from "home," but the menu does not appeal to my tastebuds at all.