Lucky for me, Cafe Fina is the closest eatery to my hosts' home, a wonderful starting point for Day 2 of my May vacation. Though I was very tempted by migas for breakfast, I heeded the advice of more than one friend to get the Cloud pancakes. These are light, tender ricotta pancakes that earn that high floating, fluffy moniker. That scoop of dense whipped cream atop the threesome of pancakes looked overwhelmingly but bridges to the fresh tart-sweet berries beautifully. The tender pancakes are unsweetened and the warm maple syrup added as much sweetness as I wanted.
From the bountiful bakery counter, I picked up an apple galette and Meyer lemon Shaker pie for later. The lemon pie was simply stupendous. I did not get a chance to try the galette, but I heard it was very good too.
A lovely spot, regretfully I could not sneak in a second visit to Cafe Fina.
Cafe Fina
624 Old Las Vegas Hwy
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Brunch daily 7-3
Dinner Thu-Sat 5:30-8:30
Day 1 dinner @ Fiesta Oaxaca
https://www.chowhound.com/post/fiesta...
An old Fina gas station turned eatery. Think healthy and wholesome with Santa Fe flair.
Thanks for waking up the NM boards with your recent posts, Melanie Wong. Thought I'd add that Cafe Fina's owners and management are also really great citizens of the area food community. When Paul Karuppasamy, the wonderful former executive chef of DOSA on Fillmore in San Francisco moved to Santa Fe, they let him workshop his restaurant concept in their space at night as a pop-up until he was able to get his own restaurant going. This let New Mexico have Paper Dosa, one of the best Indian restaurants I've been to in the US. (I'm originally from India and very hard to please on the Indian food front). In turn, Paul K gave thousands of dollars worth of fundraising dinners to various NM non-profits through his pop-up. I love when small businesses help each other out. Makes for all sorts of cool developments.
Oh you're very welcome! I was in NM and CO for a week, so I've just barely started. I'm on the road again for 10 days, and what often happens is that the urge strikes me to clear out my food data banks in the brain with a rush of posting past meals.
A rising tide lifts all ships . . . I love hearing about local food communities pulling together that way. The friend I was visiting has Indian relatives, so I think I did hear her mention Paper Dosa.
What do you like to order at Cafe Fina?
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