Flour is located on the corner of 91 & Chagrin Blvd, a few miles from 271. The restaurant is open and airy but maintains the feeling of intimacy at each table. There is a lounge area if you are only there for drinks and apps. The kitchen is open and there is a counter where you can sit and watch your pizza being thrown and fired in the wood burning oven. The wine list is not long, but is adequate although a little expensive. The server was very friendly, attentive and helpful. We ordered the beef carpaccio and crispy calamari and scallops for starters. They were both good. The seafood was not over breaded or over cooked and the dip was very tasty. The beef was perfectly thin and perfectly seasoned when eaten with a little bit of everything on the plate. The menu is set up in courses. We sort of followed this and got pizza for the next course. There was no way we were going to watch the pizza being thrown and not order some! We ordered the Bianca which is garlic oil, ricotta, cauliflower and fennel pollen. The crust was thicker and softer than I expected but still had the wood fired taste. The pizza toppings sounded a little strange to me and I personally don't care for cauliflower, but the pizza was surprisingly good. The cauliflower mellowed in the oven and the fennel added some depth. TBG and I added an egg to our pieces, but that was not executed well. The white was undercooked while the yolk was overcooked and honestly it didn't add to the taste. I guess we should have just trusted the chef on that one. The pizza was 10" and was cut into 6 pieces.
For our entrees we wanted family style since most of us could not eat a whole entree at this point. The server acted like that happens all the time and brought us out plates and new silverware with no problem. I was actually impressed by how often he brought silverware. I did not have to worry about keeping my fork and what to do with a dirty fork while waiting for the next plate. The first entree was a veal ravioli in a tuna tomato sauce. This one I did not love, but others at the table did (even my picky father). I did not taste any tuna, and there was not hunks of it so I was a little confused. The inside of the ravioli was close to room temp, definitely not warm. However, the pasta tasted homemade and was not overcooked or too thick. The next entree was a braised beef short rib with a white bean ragout and honey orange roasted fennel. The beef was perfectly cooked, nice and tender. The ragout was interesting, almost spicy. I did not like it on its own, but with the beef wasn't bad. The fennel was a little tough. Everyone at the table also liked this dish. The last dish was the lamb osso bucco (TBG's pick!), it came over a cauliflower risotto and pickled fennel salad. The entrees were a little small if that is all you ordered. The pasta dishes have two sizes and we ordered the larger which had 6 average sized ravioli.
Next came dessert (along with a second bottle of wine). The first was a chocolate lava cake with nutella ice-cream. It was messy, but very tasty. The cake was perfectly cooked and the nutella complimented all that chocolate perfectly. The next was a limoncello tiramisu. It tasted exactly as I imagined and was a nice light ending to a heavy Italian meal. The seeds shown are pomegranate. The last dessert was a basket of zeppoles which are airy Italian donuts covered in sugar. These were perfect, nice and warm and served with two dipping sauces. The first, and my fave, was a blood orange honey, the second a peanut butter type sauce. All in all everyone enjoyed our trip to Flour. The prices were a little high, but the quality of food was good with obvious care to the menu. The menu changes often to use fresh ingredients and makes me want to go back to see what else they can come up with. The Chef/Owner was standing near the door on our way out and we thanked him for a good meal. I would recommend this restaurant for a variety of reasons, but what better reason than to eat!
