You’re forgiven if you were confused by Chuck’s Trading Post’s opening, closing and re-opening earlier this year. I was, too.

Here’s the story. The Hampden eatery is the brainchild of Bernard Dehaene, the chef-owner of the neighborhood’s Corner Charcuterie Bar.

“I wanted to build it into a little bodega with a breakfast bar with skillet cooking,” he said. “It’s a great type of cooking.”

The initial employees overseeing the operation in January didn’t work out, Dehaene said, and the place closed in March. Then, along came Jim Freaney, a general manager at Panera Bread for 14 years, looking for his own place, and Dehaene turned over the keys.

The combo market-deli-restaurant came back on the scene in mid-May with Freaney as the affable proprietor.

We sat at the counter on a recent Friday afternoon and watched him cook our food. We brought our own wine since it’s BYOB for now (a liquor license application has been filed).

We enjoyed the old-fashioned ambiance of the rustic shop, filled with shelves of staples, local specialty goods, produce and cold cases of milk and eggs. You can buy everything from rabbit and quail to olive oil and Advil.

Chuck’s Trading Post is located on 36th Street but on the west side of Falls Road, away from the busy section known as the Avenue. It’s worth a trek off the beaten path.

SCENE & DECOR We arrived at the grocery store-diner to find ourselves the only customers until it closed at 7 p.m. While we enjoyed having a conversation with Freaney, who didn’t know who we were, we’d like to see more people take advantage of this throwback space with a wooden bar and stools, a counter decked out in old license plates, and shelves of food products for sale.

APPETIZERSNot applicable

ENTREES We appreciate a restaurant where you can get breakfast all day. On a late afternoon, we tucked into the nature skillet ($9) — a bounteous mix of hash, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and scallions, draped with two sunny-side-up eggs, to which Freaney applied a mini blow torch to firm up the whites before serving. We also enjoyed the open-faced Butch Cassidy sandwich ($14) with slices of tender strip steak, charred red onions, field greens and tangy Gorgonzola compound butter on white toast. Cold deli sandwiches, like the shinebox ($14) with Genoa salami, soppressata, prosciutto, ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato and giardiniera mayo, will also fill you up.

DRINKS It’s BYOB with a $5 corkage fee, though a liquor license application is pending. Coffee (including French press), tea and espresso drinks like a latte ($2.50 for a single; $3.25 for a double) are also available.

SERVICEFreaney was our friendly cook and waiter, sharing information about the menu and building.

DESSERT The warm skillet cookie ($4) is a deluxe chocolate-chip cookie, using local Salazon chocolate.

lsuzanne@comcast.net