The little brother of less-louche Aldo’s, Aldino was a pioneer in an area now overrun with restaurants, and the Italianesque menu has recently been tightened up a touch in response to the competition. There are fewer pastas, for example, and excess claims of Tuscanicity have, thankfully, disappeared—with the exception of a Tuscan tomato and leek soup with bread cubes that actually is, and is bright and good to boot.

Salads, especially the “Aldino,” can usually be counted on; most pastas count heavily on cream. The ravioli di vitello, for example, are napped with a Rosini [sic] sauce that is an Alfredo with added tomato and tomato paste, and there’s no denying it’s good with the tender and saucer-sized ravioli wrapped in spinach pasta and stuffed with veal, spinach, and ricotta. Seekers after something less loaded might look toward the veal chop saltimbuca [sic], though it is stuffed with prosciutto and smoked mozzarella.

If Aldino is also much more bustling than big-brother Aldo’s, perhaps it’s due to the pseudo-Sistine muralizing, the decapitated classic columns…and the all-afternoon happy hour with several bar specials, including focaccia and spadini [sic]. Yet there is something oddly compelling about its cheek.