Wednesday, May 14, 2008  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