Elegy for Costa del Sol

Lost City readers may recall that, when I did my recent "Who Goes There?" feature about Chez Napoleon for Eater, I had originally intended to dine at the French bistro's next door neighbor, Costa del Sol, but it found it closed for good.

An attentive reader, and Costa del Sol fan, recently wrote to let me know what I missed:

Brooks, I'm SO sorry you missed Costa del Sol. The bar was so quiet and un-hip, that we could talk office gossip all night and never be overheard by anyone in publishing. The dining room was always filled until 7:45 with a pre-theater old-timers crowd. Husbands and wives, old-school surf-and-turfers. Once in a while, an old woman would come in off the street, bang out a tune on the dusty piano, have a little libation and be on her way! My friends and I went for the good sangria, salty meats tapas plates, delicious Tortilla España and friendly barkeep Alfonso, who we hope landed on his feet somewhere nice.

Sounds like a grand joint. According to the commenter, Costa was the victim of a rent increase it couldn't afford. So it goes.