In the last few years the café has enjoyed a reawakening. Gus Mougianis, who also runs the market's Mediterranean Imported Foods store, purchased the restaurant four years ago and gave it a much needed facelift. Herculean efforts by his talented chef transformed the food from heat-and-eat Sysco slop to delicious, made-from-scratch comfort foods.

But there is only so much a chef or owner can do when factors outside his control seem to conspire against him. Anybody who makes a habit of shopping at the West Side Market is familiar with its screwy hours of operation: open one day, closed the next, open 'til 6 p.m. one night, buttoned up by 4 another. Restaurants limited to that kind of schedule are doomed from the start.

The café's newest operators, Randy Kelley and fiancé Linda Syrek, took control a year and a half ago, and in that time they have accomplished more than any previous owner. Both industry veterans, the couple started by elevating the quality of breakfast and lunch on market days. Next, they added a wildly successful Sunday brunch, something nobody before them had managed to pull off. They followed that with breakfast and lunch service on non-market days, making the café a seven-day-a-week restaurant. The couple's latest move is their riskiest: dinner on Wednesday through Saturday nights.

In spite of their tremendous success during breakfast and lunch, dinner remains an uphill battle. "It's amazing how few people even know we're here," Kelley told me, "even those who shop at the market." The brand-new sign should help. Designed by an Ohio City historian to match the flavor and spirit of the market, the sweeping neon arrow, mounted to the exterior of the building, boldly points the way to the café.

There is little not to like about the West Side Market Café. Mornings, the café serves a delicious spread of breakfast items, including some of the city's finest pancakes ($5). Crisp-edged and tangy from fresh buttermilk, the pancakes are a weekend treat. While regular-grade syrup is available gratis, I like that you can spring for real maple syrup ($1.50). The breakfast menu also features four different takes on eggs Benedict — traditionally, toasted English muffins topped with poached eggs, Canadian bacon and hollandaise ($6.95). One swaps the bacon for faux crab ($7.25) and the hollandaise for champagne cream sauce.

Lunches run the gamut from fresh-ground burgers ($5.95) to a grilled cheese sandwich ($4.95) stuffed with three kinds of cheese and sliced tomatoes. There are 10 sandwiches in all, plus soups, salads and full-on entrees like hickory-smoked pulled pork ($8.75) with fries and slaw.

Considering what's in the neighborhood, the Café should rock around dinnertime. There are very few restaurants in the immediate vicinity that fill the void between high-brow and cheap eats, and this restaurant offers a tremendous level of quality for the price. Plus, there is just something cool about visiting the West Side Market at night.

Chef Matthew Bell's seasonal menu takes full advantage of the foodstuffs right outside his door. The Market Sampler ($12) is a gourmet starter of meats, cheeses, fresh fruit, nuts and crackers. Ours included thin-sliced salamis, ripe cheeses, including a rich triple-cream, and goat cheese-stuffed pepperdews. A fat, grilled portabella ($8.25) is crowned with Italian sausage and cheese and sided by garlic toast.

Imagine a delicate crepe rolled around large chunks of house-smoked salmon and doused with a light, floral ginger cream sauce. Now imagine that dish for just $11. That item is the most expensive dish on the restaurant's dinner menu — and it includes rice and crisp, tender seasonal vegetables. Bell uses only fresh walleye in his brilliantly crisp fish fry ($10.75), which is piled atop fresh-cut fries and homemade slaw.

Making the deal even sweeter, all wines at the Café are sold at retail, with just a $5 corkage fee.

If for nothing else, visit the West Side Market Café for its glorious collection of black and white photographs. The shots offer a visual account of the market's impressive 95-year-old saga.