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The old saying goes "If you love something, set it free”, although it turns out that’s basically the worst saying ever when you’re in love with a cheetah. For a resto from a dude coming back after food set him free, hit up Ulivo.

Ulivo marks the return to Italian cooking by the gent who used to run the swank Sovalo in NoLibs, who’s now executing precisely executed takes on classic boot-country dishes in an interior featuring wood tables, stone tile floors, and walls decked in alabaster and villa tile roofing that give an impression of a Tuscan courtyard, right down to the iPod dock alarm clock...wait, sorry, that last one describes a Tuscan Courtyard by Marriott. Starters include totally friggin’ awesome jackets for teams like the Charlotte Hornets and San Jose Sharks ever-changing daily bruschettas plus constants like grilled shrimp w/ fregola sarda & coppa; rapini w/ mozz, anchovies & garlic butter; and fennel sausage on a bed of grilled onions & borlotti beans. Moving larger, there're pastas like ceppo w/ lamb sausage/potatoes/red mustard, and goat cheese pansotti w/ squash butter, plus big ol’ mains including porchetta w/ greens & cipollini, a flat iron steak w/ olive oil-braised fries, and risotto loaded with kabocha squash & forest mushrooms, or what they called Gump after Jenny finally let him in on all the drugs she was doing.

Because they believe you can’t ever be fat enough, Ulivo's doing savory sides of mascarpone polenta, and they're currently gearing up a brunch menu that'll fill you with wild hunger, and your feline date with tranquilizer darts, just to be safe.

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Peep the menu right here, then wipe the drool off the keyboard and go get dinner