25 Best Restaurants: Spice Kitchen & Bar

Variety is the life of Spice. With an ever-changing menu rooted in local ingredients when they’re in season, the Gordon Square Arts District spot keeps us on our toes with a crop of fresh-from-the-farm options. So while we may swoon over foie gras with a plum gastrique and roasted apple compote one week, the next we’re digging a pork chop with sauteed sweet potatoes, braised kale and an onion jus. “You can come in twice a month and eat a totally different menu,” says chef and owner Ben Bebenroth. The 2014 purchase of a 13-acre farm in Brecksville has allowed the chef to be a culinary chameleon — daikon radish, sprouted chickpeas, garlic, eggs, honey and more fueled 4 percent of the kitchen’s arsenal (he’s shooting for 15 percent this year). This spring, Bebenroth cracked the code on an abundance of eggs by incorporating the ingredient in everything from pastas, flatbreads and noodle bowls. “I just have a mission to use what’s readily available in the most creative way possible,” he says. “If you don’t like eggs, come back in two weeks and it’ll be arugula.” Don’t miss: Fresh ingredients find their way into many of Spice’s stellar cocktails such as the gin-based Rosemary’s Zygote ($11), which gets its depth from lavender honey and smoked rosemary. Constant Cravings: Two items remain on the menu year-round — the mushroom beignets ($7) and polenta fries ($8). “They’re so damn good I think there’d be a revolt if I pulled them off,” Bebenroth says. 5800 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, 216-961-9637, spicekitchenandbar.com