Larder Delicatessen & Bakery: Cleveland's 25 Best Restaurants

The deli part of the Hingetown’s 1854-built brick firehouse gets most of the credit.

And rightfully so, Jeremy Umansky’s newfound approach to Jewish cooking, which centers around a mold called koji that speeds up the curing process, earned a James Beard nomination on the back of its pastrami, fried chicken and matzo ball soup.

But after my first visit in 2018, I couldn't stop talking about the bread pudding ($4). Divinely sweet with creamy custard elegantly adorning fluffy rye bread, it changed my perception of the old-school dessert.

Baker and co-owner Allie La Valle-Umansky, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America's Baking and Pastry Arts program, is used to hearing similar revelations over desserts such as the soft black-and-white cookies ($3), babka ($9), cheesecake ($7) and even the pastrami's sour rye ($13), which gets a umami flavor from koji rice Amazake.

"The idea," says Larder's quiet superstar, "is to bring back these traditional desserts and dishes and put a modern lens on them." larderdb.com

Our full list of 25 Best Restaurants, 10 Best New Restaurants and reader-voted Silver Spoon Awards is your guide to Cleveland’s best bites.