Aldo's, Los Gatos

Our close family friends (and they are not alone) adore Aldo's with it's uber-friendly servers, accessible drinks and standard Italian-American dishes. And, admittedly, it's a good place for rambunctious children. If only the review could end here.
Surely there are many reviews of Aldo's that attempt to point out its failure of "authenticity." But that misses the point. More importantly, it is a general blow to ones culinary intelligence, exuding the plasticine sense of a Disneyesque Italy outlet while producing largely flavorless dishes with distinctive notes of frozen food and vacuum packing. Whether it's authentically Italian or not is largely irrelevant when the food and drink simply are not very good.
Gnocci are overcooked, taste frozen, and spackled in an overwrought blue-cheese dressing. Cannoli gasp for air in a pool of indistinguishable packaged cream sauce, which accents the saccarine twang of the ricotta cream. A chocolate martini arrives proudly adorned with flaccid whipped cream redolent of aerosol and artificial sweetener. Is anything actually made in house? Perhaps it all is, but there's not much evidence to support it.
On the positive side, the rigatoni is cooked well and not oversauced with a perfectly acceptable version of a home-cooked meat sauce - faint praise for sure.
To say more would feel like picking on dear Aldo, who has carved out a successful niche in the family dining space. One can only hope that as tastes evolve, consumers will either demand more accountability from their friends at Aldo's, or find another less cynical place to dine casually.

Number of visits: 2

Aldo's
14109 Winchester, Campbell

Yes, nanny

Where to begin?

5 Restaurants in Manhattan Get Citations...

Greening

For the most recent foray into culinary eco-Stakhanovism scroll to the bottom of today's Inside Scoop.
It will be fascinating to see whether there is any correlation at all between earning the highest blessings of this group, and creative, good food. Apparently it's not enough to earn thimmakka's certification, a perfectly fine idea. One must aspire to greenest-of-all status. Another tiresome attempt to impose uber-virtue on food.

May 7 Dinner

For my own record keeping, and the sake of posterity, I'm going to start recording menus that I produce.

Our friend, Pam, visited last night prompting this.

apples & feta with spiced walnuts, balsamic vinaigrette
butter lettuce, candied walnuts, feta in pear vinaigrette
butter & cream poached chicken, orange scented quinoa, chardonnay reduction
coffee & zinfandel braised short ribs, charred green & yellow onions
chardonnay & olive oil cake, strawberry coulis, montana clover honey

2005 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir

A new detour

While between gigs there's more time to comment on the food scene. The musings about food and the culture, most of it commentary on the hyperbolic and self-important, began before culinary school. But now there's time for more.

Rare is the restaurant now that does not claim to cook seasonally and locally (for example). It came to mind reading this review of Bar Jules, which sounds delightful, truthfully. But there's a level of bunk associated with the local/seasonal mantra. Every day, at most restaurants, at least one diesel truck parks in the alley and unloads much of the local/seasonal product. On rare occasion at Rumi the chef would carry in shopping bags of local vegetables purchased from the farmers market. But the fact that most food is delivered in smelly trucks begs the question: how local is it, really? The artichokes from Salinas, Lodi grapes, Mexican basil? How close does it have to be to qualify as "local?" For the foodier-than-thou I'm not sure what the answer is. For the reasonable, I'm not sure it matters a great deal. As always, you simply don't want your intelligence to be insulted. You know local when you see it, basically. But let's not pretend that "local" food offers some sort of culinary salvation when it's entirely unclear what the term constitutes. And yes, it is largely preferable to eat things that were grown/raised near ones home - I'm not arguing against that point. Let's just be careful about the puffery and advertising cache of terms like "local."

There are many examples of restaurants that serve what is grown on their own land, but here is my favorite: Gibb's Farm. A rare breed, and home to the single most satisfying meal of my life.

Next!

Rumi hired a full time cook and therefore has no need for a part-timer like me. I'm still "on call" as a substitute. But I don't hold out a great deal of hope that I'll be re-hired or used very often. I'm disappointed because I enjoyed working there. But it will give me the chance to write about my experiences there. More to come.

Why I may be busier soon

I may be busier than I expected because of this.