Rising from the thicket of quasi-upscale restaurants that comprise the Gaslamp District is Maryjane’s Coffeeshop, an anti-elitist eatery that convincingly captures the look and flavors of the early 1960s.

Belonging to the new Hard Rock Hotel on lower Fifth Avenue, the term “coffee shop” is something of a misnomer. For starters, you won’t find donuts and generic joe here, but rather a hearty menu of Betty Crockeresque grub that pays as much attention to theme as it does to quality. Everything from comforting chicken noodle soup and helium-light potpies to meatloaf with veal stock gravy is made from scratch. And the coffee, incidentally, is a robust, snappy brew originating from Philadelphia’s coveted La Colombe. (Tough luck, Starbucks.)

My companion and I took an immediate liking to the sparkly, retro interior upon walking in from a separate street entrance. Hotel guests and looky-loos of rock-n-roll memorabilia displayed in the lobby can access the restaurant from within, entering through a wall of rose-tinted glass, through which there’s a nebulous view to the restaurant’s split layout.

On one side is a lunch counter and circular bar that flows into the commodious main dining area, where the tables and chairs appear like those our parents used for playing rummy. Injected into the bygone motif are flat screens at every booth that play reruns of “Bewitched” and “The Brady Bunch.” The concept is cute without being corny.

We began with a vegetarian chili that rivaled in flavor most of the meat recipes out there. Served in a cast iron skillet, the ingredients were perfectly balanced – just the right amount of beans, red onions, tomatoes and spice topped with restrained measures of cheese and sour cream.

The chicken noodle soup was also awesome, packing in tons of dark and white meat along with generous amounts of root veggies for achieving a classic-tasting broth that felt like medicine going down. Unfortunately, we both got hit with head colds the next day and could have used a three-day supply of the stuff to expedite recovery.

An order of “disco fries” introduced us to the kitchen’s dark, glossy gravy constructed of reduced veal stock and rosemary. The fries are also laced with melted cheese, but not in the obnoxious portion that other diners use in an effort to draw repeat business from their portly clientele.

Dead Heat pepper sauce is used to differentiate the “hot” Buffalo-style chicken tenders from “insane.” Chef de Cuisine Tom Borgia understands that Frank’s Hot Sauce has its limits unless augmented with a few drops of something stronger. Sure enough, our faces turned moist and pink upon first bite, although the heat was easily quelled with an excellent Maytag blue cheese dip sporting solid crumbles throughout.

Visitors would be remiss to pass up the chicken potpie, since few places make them from scratch anymore, with the exception of the Chicken Pie Shop on El Cajon Boulevard. In comparison, Maryjane’s pies are served in deeper crocks, which yield generous amounts of pulled chicken and veggies. The liquid inside is brothy rather than starchy, which occurs from using too much flour. Even better, the crock is sealed by buttery pastry cap swollen with steam from the bubbling contents underneath – it’s blue ribbon material.

We were particularly fond of the baked meatloaf, too, which is slapped onto a flame grill for a few seconds before it’s plated. The result is a faint smoky flavor that pairs delectably with the aforementioned gravy we savored on our disco fries. The dish is accompanied by old-fashioned mashed potatoes and buttered sweet peas.

Kudos to the chef for sparing us the salt that is often the bane of such all-American diner fare. With everything we tried, the flavors stood on their own with only a pinch of sodium. Other offerings from the lunch-dinner menu include Black Angus burgers, tuna melts, fried chicken, fish and chips and a variety of tacos that I’m guessing are meant to appease those out-of-town visitors who equate San Diego with guacamole.

A full breakfast menu is also available until 11 a.m. daily, with an abbreviated version of it carrying over into evening hours.

Maryjane’s fills a long-overdue niche in the Gaslamp, giving patrons a place to eat for cheap – and until 3 a.m. on weekends, long after scores of other restaurants in the neighborhood have snagged their tablecloths out from under your nose. And when it comes to landing upon good homemade food served with friendly enthusiasm, who would’ve ever thought of looking to a downtown “coffee shop” to find it?