It takes a really good restaurant for us to bother going out to the outer suburbs but Flour is right at the top of the list.
The wait staff is professional yet personable while the ambiance is more formal than relaxing.
Jeannene and I each wen with the orange fennel old-fashioned cocktail, which is a nice spin on a classic as it uses honey to give it the sweetness.
We then went with the beef carpaccio ($13) for the appetizer. There was as much shaved reggiano as beef, which I'm not saying is a bad thing. And there was a large mound of lfresh greens on top of that, adding some vibrancy. At one point I got a hit of black pepper and I wish there was a little bit more of that.
For main courses, we both went with that night's specials though the pastas looked very inviting. I had the bread fluke while Jeannene had the short ribs (both $29). I had only previously had fluke as sushi and found it very blah but I was very impressed with this cooked version. The skin on one side was extremely crispy while the other side had a crispy panko bread crumb crust and in between was a thick, fleshy fish. It came on a bed of creamy fregula which had a subtle green pepper taste to it and some pickeled shaved veggies to counter the thick, breaded fish and cheezy pasta.
Jeannene's short ribs were OK enough, but the star of her plate was the smoked mashed potatoes.
For dessert we split a pumpkin pie budino ($8), which is a pudding dish served in a glass. And it was amazing -- it tasted just like the fall classic dessert only in the form of a thick pudding. I was really regretting I had to share it.