25 Best Restaurants: Flour

Moreland Hills' Flour Restaurant serves up the kind of dinner you might expect if you frequented neighborhood restaurants in Tuscany. You'll find wood-fired pizzas with a lightly charred, chewy crust and locally harvested toppings, house-made pastas with slowly simmered sauces and carefully crafted cheese boards. Led by chefs Paul Minnillo and Matthew Mytro — the self-proclaimed old-school and new-school duo — Flour's classics-with-a-twist approach has changed the way we see Italian dining. "I love using modern techniques, liquid nitrogen and some of the chemicals —any of the stuff in that realm. But I also have a love for just simple, classic food," says Mytro. "It's the perfect marriage between the two." Don't miss: We get that ordering pasta at an Italian restaurant can feel tired. Swap noodles for the semolina and mushroom gnocchi with oxtail ($29) for a different take that still satisfies: Fluffy, hand-formed pillows of dough are coated in a thin but rich mushroom broth and topped with shredded oxtail and fragrant ubriaco cheese. Brunch me: Sunday brunch at Flour is a treat with the kind of fare you won't see elsewhere. Try the eggs Benedict ($14.50) with house-made mortadella, a wood-fired breakfast pizza ($14.50) with pancetta or the oxtail potato hash ($9) studded with mushrooms and tender braised beef. 34205 Chagrin Blvd., Moreland Hills, 216-464-3700, flourrestaurant.com