Shadyside's 736 Bellefonte St. has proven to be an unlucky space for recent restaurants, perhaps because its below-ground location is part of complex of stores, making it hard to find even though it's just a few steps away from bustling Walnut Street. Three restaurants have opened and closed at the site since 2003, when the popular Pasta Piatta closed its doors.

That hasn't stopped Bikki Kochar from giving it another shot. Nearly five years after opening and ultimately closing Bikki (a European Indian fusion restaurant) in the same space, he opened Costa del Sol in August and immediately encountered another obstacle -- the inability to serve liquor. The liquor license attached to the site also came with tens of thousands of dollars of unpaid taxes, which had to be paid off before the restaurant could start serving alcohol.

Liquor sales are an important contributor to most restaurants' bottom lines, but Kochar and Chef Jeremiah Hickey are hoping that the restaurant can function as a BYOB establishment until the license comes through.

The dining room is lovely, despite its below-ground location. I liked the wooden tables, the substantial silverware and the calming shades of olive green and gray-blue. The padded booths that line two walls are handsome and comfortable. Candles flicker, while well-placed track lighting gives the room a gentle glow.

Unfortunately, it is almost always empty. On one of my visits, we were the only table in the dining room. Hickey reported that the restaurant has been serving only 10 or 15 people on Saturday nights, a time when other Shadyside restaurants are standing room only.

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Costa del Sol

(good)
(The PG's rating system)
736 Bellefonte St.
Shadyside
412-682-1481

• Hours: Mondays-Thursdays 5-9:30 p.m.; Fridays 5-10 p.m.; Saturdays noon-10 p.m.; closed Sundays.
• Basics: Menu emphasizes small plates with eclectic inspirations; the below-ground dining room is soothing and attractive.
• Recommended dishes: White Bean Pate, Salmon Carpaccio, Fresh Anchovies, Eggplant Ratatouille and Couscous, Paella for two, Lavender Creme Brulee.
• Prices: Small plates $7-$13; entrees $18-$40; desserts $5-$6.
• Summary: No wheelchair access; dining room non-smoking, partially separate bar area allows smoking; parking on street or in metered lot; credit cards accepted; reservations unnecessary at time of review; call restaurant for corkage policy.
• Noise level: Impossible to judge at time of review.

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The name and a cursory glance at the menu on the door a few weeks after the restaurant had opened led me to believe that the menu at Costa del Sol would be inspired by traditional Spanish food, a good addition to other Walnut Street restaurants. Hickey recently held positions at Ibiza and Mallorca and, according to Kochar, Hickey's expertise in tapas and Spanish food was the driving force behind the concept of the restaurant.

But when I ate at the restaurant, I was disappointed to see that the menu had not only been considerably condensed since the restaurant's opening (an indirect result of the missing liquor license), but also had drifted away from a Spanish theme. Currently, the menu offers a lengthy selection of hot and cold tapas, and only three entrees. Small plates range from the clearly Spanish-inspired to more loosely defined "international" cuisine. I liked the White Bean Pate ($8) served with toasted bread. Though the pate alone was a bit bland, the reduced balsamic that decorated the plate and a vinegary grain salad studded with bits of red and green pepper offered a bright contrast. But an offering of lump crab meat ($10) reminded me of an hors d'ouvre that may have been trendy at weddings in the 1960s. Crab meat was piled on top of sad, mealy tomato slices on top of thin, toasted rounds of bread.

I was thrilled to see Boquerones on the menu -- fresh anchovy fillets "cooked" in vinegar and dressed with olive oil ($9). This classic Spanish dish can be difficult to find, and it goes marvelously well with crisp, acidic white wines such as the vinho verde I was drinking that evening.

Jumbo shrimp ($14) were deliciously sweet, but they came with a pineapple salsa that was more like a dreary fruit salad than a salsa.

I enjoyed a refreshing salmon carpaccio ($10) and a more recent addition of eggplant ratatouille and couscous. I wouldn't normally choose to order a mozzarella and tomato salad at this time of year, but was pleasantly surprised at what we received. The fresh mozzarella was wonderfully creamy and soft without being wet, and a good-quality balsamic vinegar really perked up some sad winter tomatoes.

Some dishes have yet to find a balance. Overwhelmed by the profusion of reduced balsamic vinegar, I could barely taste the hazelnuts in Creamy risotto ($9).

On one visit overcooking seemed to be a problem. Stuffed quail ($13) was gray throughout -- game birds should be served pink in the middle or they will be dry and unpalatable. Scallops ($13) were gummy and tasteless, though I loved the fried chickpeas that accompanied them. I liked the ginger-honey coulis on the Blackened Tuna ($12) well enough, but it could not make up for the gray, tough tuna.

But on another visit, I was impressed by a beautiful presentation of Paella ($40). This bountiful dish is prepared for two, but it could easily serve three or four, if combined with some tapas. A generous array of shrimp, scallops, beef tips, chorizo and salmon were scattered throughout rice flavored with tomatoes, bay leaves, onions and saffron. I was especially delighted that the different proteins were almost perfectly cooked, despite extremely different cooking times.

For now, Hickey is making desserts at well, sticking to three that he can easily prepare. Both Orange and White Chocolate Flan ($5) were good but unexceptional.

On one visit Lavender Creme Brulee ($6) was wonderfully creamy with just the right amount of lavender flavor. It was exotic and refreshing without becoming perfumey. Unfortunately, on another visit I was served a far too literal translation of this dish -- the sugar crust was a dark brown color and tasted burnt rather than caramelized.

If the food was fabulous, the lack of a liquor license would have been a short-term problem. At the same time, in this neighborhood the lack of a bar scene may well be a larger obstacle than a hit-or-miss menu, especially considering the relationship between the absent liquor license and the quality of the food is more complicated than it might seem.

According to Hickey, more than half of the restaurant's start-up capital was required to pay off the back taxes on the license. Without the revenue from liquor sales, and the traffic that a bar scene often generates, and with the extremely high Shadyside rents, I can only imagine that the restaurant is functioning with as little staff and as few supplies as possible.

I postponed my second visit to the restaurant for more than a month, hoping that the restaurant would secure a liquor license and its identity would become more clear. I hated the idea of writing a review for a restaurant that might transform itself at any moment. But as the weeks passed, I couldn't wait any longer.

Eating dinner in an empty or near-empty dining room is like watching the final dress rehearsal of a play. The actors may be in costume, they may get through the play without any mistakes or pauses, but something in the spirit is lost. It's difficult to have a really good time in an empty restaurant. Interactions with the server are strained, especially, as on one of our visits, when a server uncomfortably inserts himself into your conversation.

Of course, there also is a strange benefit. When there are only a few customers, everyone can be treated like someone special. Every dish arrives promptly, water and wine glasses stay full, and it's fairly easy to get the server's attention.

The frequent opening and closing of restaurants in this space is certainly a worrisome trend, but there have been successful restaurants here in the past, and with luck and some hard work, Costa del Sol could still break the current streak.