165 W. Napa St.
Sonoma, CA 95476 US

When Carlo-Alessandro Cavallo recently took over the space that was Freestyle! restaurant in Sonoma, he must have been pleased at the expense the former owners had gone to in decorating the room. In creating his new restaurant, Meritage, he has wisely left the beautiful light fixtures and most other accouterments intact.

Everything else is pretty much new, such as the menu of dishes from southern France and northern Italy, the wine list, the staff, and the more relaxed atmosphere. It is a pretty room, with mixed tables and booths up front, leading to a four-stool wine bar, down a hallway past the kitchen pass-through, where you can see Carlo-Alessandro and his cooks at work, to a back dining room and, in clement weather, an outside patio.