Aldo’s celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010, catering to an appreciative Medical Center clientele at lunch and a few brave returnees at dinner. The menu, a compilation of dishes that fall somewhere into that nebulous netherland between red-sauce Italian-American and semi-alta cucina italiana, has changed little in the quarter century—not that Aldo wouldn’t like to break away. But the clientele, the staff, the kitchen…a little freshening of the interior is about all that has happened.

So here’s what to expect: primo ingredients, boatloads of cream in every other dish, and professional, if not effusive, service. We tend to prefer cozze alla marinara and the well-executed carpaccio di filetto as starters; for mains, penne alla vodka mercifully claims only “a touch of cream.” As grilled fish can be dry (though the premium-priced veal rib chop is not), we prefer the grilled quail in a tomato-saffron sauce. The cacciucco alla toscana, a hearty fish stew, is another favorite not counting on panna for its punch. Fake-being-a-regular hint: fresh crab in brown butter is off the menu but always available and unfailingly lovely. Good wine selection with private wine room available.