If you haven't been to Darrel & Oliver's Cafe Maxx lately, you may not recognize the place.

Back in '04 they gave the dining room an extreme makeover, creating a more modern, open feel. More changes are on the way including (city commissioners willing) a full bar and sidewalk seating. And as summer begins weighing down on us, the menu, printed daily, is moving in a lighter, more Mediterranean direction.

The one thing that hasn't changed is the quality of the food -- almost always very good and sometimes inspired.

Service, though, can be hit or miss. On one recent visit our server would have had us at hello -- if she had only greeted us. Another time we were charmed by a personable lad who, though he didn't have all the answers to our pesky questions, was eager to please.

And while we were kept waiting for more than an hour on one visit, the ever-delightful Darrel Broek never let us feel neglected. Indeed, having made last-minute reservations, we were grateful to be seated at all. We joined a teeming scene at the wine bar and spent our time pleasantly enough sipping prosecco and poring over the extensive wine list (about 30 available by the glass) and the evening's menu. The selections were worth the wait.

If you're three or more, you'll simply have to try the Italian cheese tasting plate, which, on our visit, included a surprisingly creamy asiago, an even creamier robbiola and a Gorgonzola that might have had a bit more bite. The cheeses were accompanied by sliced apples, grapes and a sweet tomato jam that we would love to see bottled for take-away.

We would be content to make a dinner of just that, the basket of dense olive bread and crispy sesame flatbread and a bottle of wine, but when you're driving all the way to Pompano . . .

So we move on.

From the sea we try what we're told is the signature dish, the sweet onion-crusted yellowtail snapper, an item that has been surviving the menu's daily rewrite for more than 20 years. And while it's really quite good, done with madeira and caramelized onions, there's nothing crusty about the dish.

For that, try the snapper, butterflied, tail on, all crunchy with panko bread crumbs and sesame seeds, served with a sweet chili sauce on udon noodles. We also tried the swordfish, a beautiful specimen grilled perfectly and then doused with a puréed arugula and kalamata tapenade.

For pure comfort food with a gourmet twist, the duck and smoked ravioli was magical with brown butter, basil and little chips of sun-dried tomato.

Seeking tang, we tried the Dijon and horseradish veal chop -- a bit of a disappointment slathered in mustard with no discernable taste of horseradish.

If the kitchen was timid with the horseradish, it was bold with the feta in the lemon-scented rack of lamb, one of the more inspired presentations, served with an imaginative Napoleon of eggplant and tomato with scallion-mashed potatoes.

Speaking of Napoleons, if the homemade Napoleon with fresh strawberries and cream cheese mousse is on the menu, don't hesitate. Not for a second.

But now that we've done that, we've got our eyes on the blueberry lemon bread pudding.