Spire Farm-to-Fork

Farm-to-fork cuisine gets a minimalist treatment at this spare, open restaurant tucked inside the just-added clubhouse at LaPorte’s Legacy Hills Golf Club.

Be advised, though: Properties right on the water don’t come on the market very often. You might need to make a few trips. Try to suffer through it.

Located inside the Legacy Hills Golf Course’s clubhouse, Spire Farm-to-Fork (299 W. Johnson Rd., LaPorte, 219-575-7272) proves that small-town Hoosier dining can aspire to something more than gut-busting tenderloins and grandma-style pies. In the restaurant that opened in September of 2012, chef-owner Brad Hindsley prepares meals completely from scratch, using only fresh ingredients—never processed, packaged, or frozen—from farms within a 150-mile radius. On a recent visit, the menu touted 16 local produce vendors; nine meat, egg, and dairy farmers; and even five specialty vendors supplying such basics as sugar, flour, and honey.