December 02, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

A welcome arrival

by Dale F. Bentson

Downtown Los Altos has long been thought a graveyard for restaurants. But partners Alan Moll and Donato De Marchi, along with manager Steve Magoon, are challenging that notion. Their new 78-seat Italian restaurant, Aldo Los Altos, premiered Aug. 1.

After they took charge of the departed I Fratelli restaurant, 26 layers of paint in the century-old building on Main Street were stripped away, new furniture was installed and the kitchen was renovated. The high interior walls were repainted with five layers of warm yellow paint mixed with ground walnut shells. The textured finish resembles old stuccoed walls found in Italy.

Moll was the CEO of the now-extinct Good Earth restaurant chain and operates a thriving commercial bakery of the same name in Redwood City. All desserts and breads at Aldo are from Good Earth. De Marchi, a graduate of the Culinary Academy in Bellagio, Italy, owns and operates a pasta manufactory and a popular trattoria, Vino e Cucina, in San Francisco.

Reservations are not accepted, so plan accordingly. The attentive wait staff is casually attired in neat jeans and T-shirts, mirroring the informal yet genteel approach the owners have adopted. The menu evolves continuously with specials offered and items added and dropped, according to seasonal variances.

Spiral bread containers and triangular laminated placards with weekly specials accentuate the slate topped tables. The complimentary bread, though, isn't really bread. Moll calls it "tostini" and it is made from strips of toasted focaccia with garlic, cheese, basil, olive oil and seasonings. It is a light, crispy alternative to the traditional offering. Nevertheless, if bread is requested it will be brought at once.

Aldo offers an assortment of cicchetti (pronounced chi-ketti), tapas-like light dishes that are popular bar morsels in Venice. Many Aldo diners order three or four cicchetti and a soup or salad and dessert and depart satisfied. Unlike many of the now popular small plates in restaurants, the cicchetti are reasonably priced, most in the $4 to $7 range.

I liked the half-dozen stuffed olives ($4) filled with pork, veal and onions, which were breaded, deep-fried and garnished with arugula and shaved Parmesan cheese. Other selections included baked eggplant, seasonal frittata, baked mussels and risotto croquettes.

The antipasti are particularly good at Aldo. I was delighted with the tutti fritti ($9), crispy chunks of calamari, portabellas and artichoke hearts deep-fried and served in a winsome conical wrapper. Two savory dipping sauces that accompanied them, lemon aioli and red marinara, were an added asset.

Tuscan zuppa ($6) is no ordinary tomato soup. Each order is prepared fresh in the kitchen from tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil and focaccia bread cubes. The deep bowl I was served had an aromatic, fresh-from-the-garden quality.

The interesting Aldo salad ($8) was resplendent with arugula and other baby lettuces, tasty crisped sausage, fresh herbs, shaved fennel and Reggiano Parmesan. It was the fennel that elevated this salad, a nice palate cleanser between cicchetti and what came next.

Rigatoni del bosco ($12) had an appetizing creamy tomato sauce layered over tube pasta. Spicy Italian sausage, crimini mushrooms and peas added color, texture and more dimension to the dish.

I loved the fragrant, light and flavorful tortelli d'anatra ($13).Thin sheets of fresh egg pasta had been folded and filled with roasted duck and mascarpone cheese then set afloat in fresh tomato sage sauce. This dish, more than any other, resonated with the poetics of Italian cuisine.

Maiale ($15) were two large, boneless grilled pork chops blanketed in cream sauce with fennel seed and onion, topped with mushrooms. A hearty plate of food, yet too tame. The dish would have sung had more interesting mushrooms been used. Crimini, or button mushrooms, are simply underpowered to imbue much flavor to a dish like this. Chanterelles, for example, are currently market-available. Although they are more expensive, far fewer of them would have been needed to achieve a better result.

Pan roasted duck, petto d'anatra ($16), was a chewy breast and leg covered with raspberry-balsamic sauce. The raspberries had been sautÈed whole and my companion was left with a mouth full of raspberry seeds after each bite, the flavor of the duck lost in the unpleasant aftertaste. It would not take great effort for the kitchen to strain the raspberry seeds out, greatly enhancing the dish.

Both the duck and pork chops were accompanied with steamed chard laced with chopped tomatoes. Tasty rosemary fried potato strips balanced out these dishes.

Desserts are well-thought-out if not always well-executed. Budino ($6) was lush, warm bread pudding spiked with dried apricots, a pool of crËme anglaise and a swirl of raspberry sauce. According to Moll, apricots are used instead of raisins as a tribute to Los Altos' agricultural heritage. The area boasted huge apricot orchards a century ago.

Limoncello tart ($6) was my favorite dessert at lunch. Tangy lemon curd was baked in a sweet, crisp shortbread crust. However, I ordered it after a dinner one evening and found that the crisp sweetbread crust was now soggy, having sat around all afternoon. Since desserts are made at an affiliated bakery, a fresher tart should have been available.

Cioccolata was described as a very rich chocolate-walnut tart. I uncovered few walnut bits and the tart was more a pie-shaped brownie than the lush dessert I had anticipated. Although there was nothing wrong with the cioccolata, the other dessert options were more tempting.

Limoncello ($5) is a bittersweet Italian citrus liqueur made from fermented lemons. Light and refreshing, it is a digestive enjoyed at the conclusion of meals. Unfortunately, I was not enthralled with the Limoncello served at Aldo. It was too creamy and sweet, more like Bailey's Irish Cream than the pungent citrus liqueur that made it famous.

With an emphasis on Northern Italian wines, Aldo sports a small yet interesting and price-friendly wine list. Barbera d'Alba, $26, was well suited to the lighter fare the restaurant specializes in. According to Moll, a larger selection of local wines will soon be available. Happily, most of the wines are available by the glass. Corkage fee is $15.

Aldo Los Altos is a welcome infusion to the downtown Los Altos mix. The fare is pleasingly light and tasty, the ambiance eater-friendly and prices are rational. I had a few quibbles with some of the preparations and I hope the attention to detail given to most dishes is not lost on the remainder. Aldo Los Altos, along with Vero and La Strada in Palo Alto, is happily redefining our Italian restaurant options.

Aldo Los Altos
388 Main St. Los Altos, (650) 949-2300

Daily hours:
Lunch Mon. - Fri. 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Dinner Sun. - Wed. 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Dinner Thurs. - Sat. 5 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Reservations: No
Website: No
Credit cards: Yes
Parking: City lots
Alcohol: Beer and wine
Children: Yes
Outdoor dining: No
Party facilities: Small mezzanine
Noise level: Moderate
Bathroom cleanliness: Fair

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