Avila Restaurant (1711 N. 45th St.) had its soft opening last week. The space, which housed specialty food and deli joint Bella Cosa through the years not to mention a few owners, is a tricky one–long and narrow with two different levels. The remodel acknowledges this and embraces it, setting up the bar in the front, and a small dining area outside the kitchen, complete with chef’s bar. For those diners who always complain about noise, there’s a back dining room that overlooks a beautiful new, tree covered patio. (“Just wait for summer,” chef Alex Pitts said.)Pitts’ menu relies on the classics and leans toward the adventurous–radish soup with bone marrow beignets, frogs legs, and risotto with cockscombs (Jonathan Kauffman, are your ears burning?). The dinner menu is comprised of a number of small plates, giving the guests the choice of dining the traditional app-salad-entree way, or sharing. Pitts said, “We’re in a neighborhood and we want people to feel like they can come in often. SO we give them different ways to eat.” Avila will begin lunch service next Tuesday, November 24th. “We’ll start with five or six sandwiches, soup and a few salads. Then we’ll add as we go,” said Pitts. “From running with Bella Cosa for a little while, I expect a good crowd from the beginning for sandwiches.” Yes, Wallingford is terribly underrepresented in the meat between bread department. Avila will eventually make and sell their own charcuterie and expand the cheese and condiment selection during the day.The diamond in the process of being polished is the restaurant’s upstairs private room, an open and airy space with plenty of windows and skylights, and a small patio overlooking the courtyard. “We’ve already booked a dozen or so holiday parties. We’ll have an herb garden on the roof, and we want to add a rooftop deck on the other side of the room by summer,” said Pitts.(Avila Restaurant, 1711 N. 45th St., 545-7375)