Count yourself lucky when you can find a restaurant in downtown San Diego that taps your wallet ever so gently and cranks out meals that are stripped of pretension and served without snobbery. No, we’re not talking soup kitchen or taco shop here, but rather the bright, spacious Grand Central Café situated several yards above sidewalk level at the foot of Broadway in what used to be the Armed Services YMCA.

The space, now part of the urban boutique hotel called 500 West, has operated as a diner since the 1940s and captures the nostalgia in black-and-white photographs hanging throughout the dining room. They show servicemembers mingling over casual fare at a long lunch counter that hasn’t changed. Architectural details such as arched paned windows and high-beamed ceilings remain perfectly preserved. And inserted into the present-day motif are model train cars perched on ledges plus an imposing round clock with Roman numeral numbers to keep patrons on schedule in a welcoming atmosphere that mimics a train station café.

The eatery recently extended its hours and introduced an “after dark” menu of appetizers, soups, salads and sandwiches, plus reduced prices on beer and wine. The offerings are contracted from a much bigger daytime menu that offers downtown denizens a cheap place to eat in a vicinity that is otherwise void of comfy, pedestrian-type grub like fried chicken, turkey and gravy, meatloaf, fish and chips, etc. The most expensive items originate from the pasta section, hitting the mark at $9.25.

In two visits I made with the same dining companion, we first poked in for breakfast, ordering a three-egg Spanish omelet filled generously with ham and Ortega chilies, and another omelet oozing with excellent homemade chili. The accompanying breakfast potatoes were just the way I like them – soft cubes interspersed with crispy well-done scrapings and a touch of mashed matter. The house-made salsa (applicable to just about everything) is fresh and pulpy and offers a slow, creeping heat. Breakfasts also include a choice of bread, buttermilk biscuit or English muffin, which I would have preferred crisped in a toaster rather than on the griddle simply because it sucked up too much grease in the process.

We went more hog-wild for dinner, starting with chef Mario Lopez’s popular chicken tenders, which are truly a cut above most because he pounds them out to achieve a suppler texture and coats them in fluffy panko bread crumbs that fry up to an irresistible crunch. At only $4.50, they’re a bargain.

Another appetizer, breaded strips of eggplant, was cooked nicely to medium firmness, although there’s something about marinara sauce topped with shredded cheddar that doesn’t bode well with me. Unless you’re from the rural Midwest, this ain’t no eggplant Parmesan.

While chomping into the thick, charbroiled Freight Car Burger served with pleasing onion rings, we slurped through a lineup of homemade soups and stews. The tortilla soup offered a nice reddish broth that was piquant and warming. A thick chicken stew, sporting a mellow-tasting, yellowish flour base embracing par-cooked peas, carrots and broccoli, resembled the filling in a good, old-fashioned potpie. The beef stew was less to my liking but delighted my companion. It contained savory chunks of tender beef in dark gravy that I felt was unusually glossy and dense.

The menu gives customers a serious slice of Americana with common Cal-Mex choices in the mix: deli sandwiches, French dips, Philly cheese steaks, Reubens, copious salads, tostadas, fajitas and much more. The loyal patronage is eclectic, in which you’ll see judges, lawyers, office workers and tourists from the nearby ship docks roll in for what we found to be fast and efficient service.

According to the café’s leaseholder, Susan Gray, nearly 300 lunches are served every weekday. “It’s insane. People come in just to watch the afternoon bustle at its peak,” she said.

The building where Grand Central Café is housed was built in 1924 and is still owned by the Armed Services. In addition to being a new hotel, the YMCA occupies the basement and a portion of the first level – a perfect arrangement should you need to burn off that patty melt and wedge of cherry pie.