If you're planning on lunching at Aldo's Ristorante & Bar, allot yourself a good amount of time. The reason is not that Aldo's, in Los Gatos, is farther than most of us go for lunch, but because the richness of the food at this traditional Italian eatery will necessitate a post-meal nap.
You will know when you walk into the spacious dining room that Italian food is served here. There are impressionist paintings of the Italian countryside lining the walls and weathered-looking wood rafters overhead reminiscent of an Italian farmhouse. The waiters call out ciao and other charming Italian phrases that one can only hope don't require responses.
Service is attentive; a loaf of fresh bread the shape of a flattened football touches down as soon as you sit. It comes with a small dish of olive oil bathing several cloves of roasted garlic, a few snippets of basil, and red pepper flakes. The bread is soft and delicious with the oil.
Aldo's offers Italian classics like scaloppine al limone, a pounded steak of veal sautéed in white wine and lemon. There's also carpaccio, raw slices of beef simply dressed with extra virgin olive oil, lemon, capers, and arugula. But people come to Aldo's for the pasta. You'll find penne, tagliatelle, tortellini, and gnocchi, sometimes mixed with unexpected ingredients like truffle paste, nutmeg, and blue cheese.
Artichokes ravioli is a plate of a dozen oval-shaped ravioli arranged like petals on an enormous pasta flower ($15). Finely minced artichoke combines with ricotta cheese for a creamy sweet filling. A heavy dousing of pesto cream sauce makes everything yummier. Toasted pine nuts add a lovely crunch.
Penne al salmone affumicato is tubular pasta tossed with smoked salmon, scallions, and mascarpone cheese ($13.50). Smoked salmon is by nature salty, but here it is the smoky flavor that permeates well into the penne. Penne is perfectly cooked al dente, Italian for "to the tooth," meaning that the pasta should have slight resistance in the center when chewed.
It's hard to pass up desserts here, especially after you learn they are all made fresh on the premises and include things like tiramusu, pera arlecchino (poached pears filled with ice cream), and profiteroles. Torta capese is a traditional Italian cake made from chocolate and pulverized almonds and served hot ($5.50). It reposes in a web of chocolate and zabaglione sauce. The cake has a grainy, not cakey, texture from the almonds and is not overly sweet.