FILLING UP
Cafe Fina offers large portions in former gas station
You’d never think of Cafe Fina as a former gas station, but that it was, right at the junction of the highway toward Las Vegas and northeastern New Mexico and U.S. 285 to the southeastern quadrant of the state. It was a perfect place for a gas station long ago, but with the growth of Eldorado and other exurbs to Santa Fe’s east and south, it’s also the perfect place for local residents looking for food on the way to work or coming back from a shopping run.
Sensibly, the menu skews to burgers, sandwiches and breakfast-related items with contemporary flourishes. It’s mostly simple, with a few surprises like fried fresh oysters (at dinner) or corncakes with veggies and shrimp (brunch). We dropped in at the ambiguous hour of 10:30 one weekday morning and enjoyed the opportunity to choose as the mood, or personal take on morning, dictated.
My guest opted for the green chile cheeseburger ($9.50). It’s as good a burger as you’ll get anywhere around. She noted that it was perfectly cooked to the specified medium rare, satisfyingly thick and juicy, and served on a ciabatta roll sturdy enough to cope with the juices and trimmings.
The chile had some heat without being overly spicy, there was lots of it and it didn’t come from a can. The fries were standard: thick and soft rather than crispy (no shoestring pretensions), and plentiful, too.
The corncakes ($10.50) proved to be a savory version of pancakes, crispy outside and fluffy and tender inside, studded with fresh corn kernels and a little diced scallion. Topped with fresh salsa and a quick stir-fry of summer squash and spinach on more scallions, it, too, was very good.
A scattering of crispy, chi pot lemarina ted shrimp was a good counterpoint, boosting the corn cakes out of any breakfast associations and placing them firmly into lunch fare.
For dessert, we split a rustic apple galette ($4.50) that seems to be a house standard. Like the lemon bars, coffee cakes and luscious-looking bundt cakes in the pastry case, the galette is housemade. It was excellent — perfectly flaky pastry, shaped by hand to hold just enough not-too-sweet apple filling. We would have liked a scoop of ice cream — salted caramel gelato, perhaps — but didn’t think to ask until we’d eaten half the little pie. Next time!
Cafe Fina is an informal place, filled with a very Santa Fe mix of customers: contractors on the road between projects and builders’ supply stores, 50-something retirees or at-home workers on errands, tourists (very few) and families on their way from here to there. We enjoyed its uncluttered decor and the 360-degree views from its huge windows. The patio looked like the perfect place for three-season dining.
For dinner, there’s occasional entertainment — an evening of tango music seems to be the current staple, which we found intriguing. The service is very good — our food arrived promptly, but otherwise we were made comfortable enough to linger over lunch conversation.
Better yet, the bill for our very good lunch for two was just $26 (before tip) — a real bargain, at least in Santa Fe. For that alone, Cafe Fina should be on everybody’s short list.