Mountain Shadows Restaurant is a diner in disguise. The leafy, ramshackle Victorian cottage it calls home among the dispensaries on West Colorado Avenue suggests some kind of hippie tea house where people with wheat allergies and meat aversions sup over steaming hot cups of self-satisfaction. But you don’t have to get very close before you smell the bacon cooking and realize that nothing could be further from the truth.

This is a down-home locals place, with big plates of eggs and hash browns, gravy-drenched biscuits, lots of bad coffee, fat, beefy lunch sandwiches, several nice from-scratch items and a green chili deserving of its loyal following.

Mountain Shadows has been around for 21 years, originally in Lake George, then with its second location in Old Colorado City. For most of that time it was known for a pancake so big that when it arrived on the table, it immediately made you wonder if you had sipped some down-the-rabbit-hole potion.

That pancake is still there, waiting to toy with your glycemic index. But so are a lot of other fairly priced diner dishes that are worth a visit. And there are some welcome updates. Owners Kasie Swain and Ben Zook, who recently took over the place, got a liquor license, added natural, hormone-free, locally processed Callicrate beef, and started serving dinner.

The good news is that their updates did not brush away any of the old charm. The waitresses can still take an order, clear a plate, pour a cup of decaf and a cup of regular, all while calling you “hon.”

Inside, the small rooms of the converted house are filled with simple tables and trite knickknacks. The pleasant patio is dappled with umbrella tables under shady Siberian Elms. But generous amounts of good food are what keeps the place full.

Take the cinder block-size cinnamon roll ($5), splashed with a sweet maple glaze. It arrives hot, so big it could feed two, at least. It is doughy, not too sweet. Is it great? No. The gluten glitterati would still do well to go a block up to La Baguette. But it is comfortingly good and seems to get no smaller no matter how long you nibble at it.

Just as appealing is the chili relleno breakfast ($9). It is a slender New Mexico chili pumped with a hint of what tastes like American cheese, and given a crisp jacket of breading. On the side, you get eggs your way and hash browns, and the whole thing is sloshed in Mountain Shadows’ green chili.

A lot of diners around here boast about having “the best green chili in town,” and few of them amount to more than canned, diced chilies and tomatoes with some powdered spices and pork chunks. Here it is more, because the chilies are fresh and there are a lot of them, so the flavor shines through.

There is a whole “green chili specialties” section on the menu, with omelets, burritos and such, though, you get the feeling, really, that they will put chili on anything for you. I had it as a side for my fries (delicious).

Those fries, by the way, are hand-cut and fried to near perfection — crisp but not toasted, hot and not overly oily.

Lunch here is good, too. The staff will steer you toward the Mountain Man ($9.30), a modified Philly cheesesteak with slightly grill-singed prime rib on a chewy roll with grilled onions, mushrooms and — the kicker — bacon. The bacon is always crisp, with a slight leathery chew. It’s not quite as good as the thick local bacon like you can get at Smiley’s, but it is certainly well above average.

So is the patty melt ($8.30). It many ways it is standard with toasted marbled rye and browned onions, but the juicy Callicrate beef patty gives it an especially rich flavor.

If you like a classic diner plate with a funky west-side feel, look no further.

Mountain Shadows just recently started offering dinners, such as a Callicrate rib-eye ($14) or pistachio cranberry salmon ($13) (Thursdays-Saturdays). We didn’t get a chance to try them, but given the thorough success the staff has with standard diner fare, maybe you should.

The Breakfast Burrito at Mountain Shadows Restaurant has two scrambled eggs with choice of sausage, ham, bacon or chorizo and is smothered in green chili. The restaurant is at 2223 West Colorado Avenue. Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE