25 Best Restaurants: Adega

Colorful stamps fill Eddie Tancredi's culinary passport — Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, London and Ecuador. The 32-year-old executive chef and managing partner of Adega has traveled the world in search of a challenge, participating in more than 30 culinary competitions. "I can bring that flair back to my restaurant," says Tancredi, who will be the lone U.S representative in September's Global Chef Challenge. While each bite at Adega is steeped in authentic Spanish, Greek and Italian flavors, Tancredi maps his own course with modern twists such as a fried polenta cube with house-made Italian sausage Bolognese ($9). So be ready to venture into uncharted territory with rare dishes such as the char-grilled, jalapeno-tossed octopus ($15) and his signature marbled Iberico Secreto ($45), known as the world's greatest pork and only sold locally at Adega. "We want to take things to the next level, do things that other people aren't doing and have things that other people don't have," he says. Don't Miss: The Tancredi Sunday Sauce ($27) is borrowed from a yearslong Italian family tradition. "Every Sunday, my mom and grandma would take leftover meat, wine, tomatoes and cook that down and that would be your sauce," Tancredi says. Spanish Revolution: A recent trip to Spain to visit tapas restaurants spurred Tancredi to retool the dining room this month with communal high-top tables and a menu with small plates and share plates at lower prices to evoke of the warm Mediterranean culture. 2017 E. Ninth St., Cleveland, 216-331-6289, metropolitancleveland.com