AUTHENTIC ITALIAN DINING IN CLEVELAND, OHIO…

Opened more than three decades ago by the late Aldo Zappa, the cozy Brooklyn spot is one of the most authentic Italian restaurants in town. Zappa, a native of Roccaraso in Italy’s mountainous Abruzzo region, brought to town a diverse menu that ranges from his native region to classic southern Italian cuisine featuring veal, pasta, and seafood.

Aldo’s menu contains no surprises: sautéed calamari, mussels marinara, eggplant Parmigiana, rigatoni with meatballs or sausage, Chicken Marsala, Chicken Cacciatore, Veal Piccata, Veal Marsala, Zuppa di Pesce and so forth. These are standard dishes at the countless “Italian-American” restaurants of a certain vintage, throughout Northeast Ohio and America. But there is nothing standard about how Aldo’s prepares them.