The pretty sunshine yellow plates are divided into six neat little areas. Perfect picnic platters for Giacomo’s cibo e vino’s new cichette sampler plate of six different antipasti ($16).

The only thing is, the plates say La Mora, not Giacomo’s.

“I found these in my garage apartment and dusted them off,” laughs chef/owner Lynette Hawkins. “People were always asking for a plate with several dishes and I didn’t have a way to keep the sauces from running into each other. When I found these I knew they would be perfect.”

La Mora Cucina Toscana, of course, was Hawkins’ much-loved restaurant in the heart of Montrose were she served up Tuscan delicacies for 16 years. After a cooking hiatus, she opened Giacomo’s, a modern Venetian wine bar last fall. And the yellow plates aren’t the only thing from La Mora that have made their way to the bright, nearly-year-old eatery, but more on that in a minute.

First off, what’s a nice Texas girl doing cooking Tuscan fare?

“My dad was a petroleum engineer,” Hawkins explains. “He moved the family to Florence when I was a baby so I grew up learning to cook Italian.

“I learned along with mom the simplest of rustic Tuscan recipes taught by kind neighbors, shopkeepers and the young farm girl who kept house for us. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Italians adored Americans. In Florence, their hearts went out to a young American woman, my mom, whose husband was away on long trips most of the time, so she was left alone to fend for herself with her two baby daughters in a country very alien to her.”

With the help of the Italians, Hawkins learned not only the dishes, but shopping as well. Since there were no supermarkets back then, Hawkins trailed along with her mother each morning to various shops and produce markets, inhaling the sights and smells of Italy. And along the way getting tasty treats that foretold that night’s menu.

“One of my dad’s colleagues had a family winery and farm in Chianti,” she says. “We used to visit them on weekends, they produced their own Chianti, prosciutto and pecorino cheese. I never forgot these experiences, these flavors.”

The family moved on to Rome, Paris, Tripoli and London before coming to Houston when Hawkins was 19. But through it all, both she and her mom continued to cook the rustic Tuscan dishes they had grown to love. And, when Hawkins started working in restaurants during her college years (she has a degree in business administration from the University of Houston), she soon realized she could make a living cooking the foods she loved.

“I remember her when she was the hostess at Damian’s,” says Kathy Heard. “We go way back!”

So when Hawkins wanted to create Giacomo’s she turned to Heard. That would be Heard of OPEN Restaurant Design who created the cool confines at Sushi King, among others.

The result was that the old Palazzo’s Trattoria was turned into an airy, comfy, funky spot with a big wall-to-floor chalkboard for daily wine and food specials and a wall of brightly colored trapezoids by artist Rachel Hecker.

“When we started redesigning,” Heard says, “we realized there wasn’t a square angle in the place. They’re all trapezoids.”

So the art works works, as do the colors of the pieces. They mirror the vivid hues of the the antipasti platter. Which, since this is a food column, I guess we should get to.

I adored the turkey tonnato, roasted poultry in a delicate tuna and mayonnaise sauce with capers. And even non-veggie fans will swoon over the roast beet salad with a touch of tarragon, fennel, hazelnuts and a kiss of balsamic vinegar. Or the broccoli with olives, goat cheese and just a pinch of sun dried tomatoes. Oh, and the carrots pickled in Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar are divine.

“I love Bragg’s,” Hawkins says. “I drink a spoonful every day.”

OK, back to the other items that have migrated from La Mora to Giacomo’s.

Check out the wonderful shadow boxes by Susan Hanft that feature Italian motifs with pasta. It’s noodle art worthy of drooling over.

Oh, and the name of the restaurant? No, it’s not named for Puccini or any other famous Italian Giacomo. Giacomo is the name of Hawkins' beloved blond Labrador.

And if you don’t believe that an Italian restaurant and wine bar is named for a dog, just look at the friendly puppy photo gallery in the entranceway.

Yup, that’s Giacomo. Lucky dog.