Santa Fe Up All Night: Late Night Bites in the City Different

Ok, let me just put this out there.  Santa Fe is not a late night town.  It's just not.  It's difficult to find a restaurant that serves past 9 pm. And on a weekday?  Fugeddaboudit.  Those coffee shops filled with students cramming for tests in the dead of night?  They're not a thing here.  So what's a hungry girl to do?

All hail The Flying Star Cafe!  A relatively new place in the Railyard, the Flying Star is a local chain.  They're all over Albuquerque but the Santa Fe one stands alone.  The Flying Star is open and serving food until 9pm Sunday - Thursday and is open until 10pm on Friday and Saturday.

I accompanied my darling High Desert Dude over there last week for a late dinner and some reading/study time.  The Flying Star has free internet access and a well-stocked magazine rack and is an inviting atmosphere for those of us who like to study/read/play board games/do sudoku/blog/mindlessly surf the internet while in public.  In other words, just my kind of place.

Here's the interior, with another patron studiously reviewing his fantasy football team statistics:

The food at the Flying Star is nothing to write home about.  It's mostly sandwiches, burgers, fried chicken, and other American home-style cuisine.  When we were there last, I had a surprisingly tasty salad.  It was like a taco salad but with shrimp and a citrus dressing.

It was listed on the specials board (located immediately in front of the paper menus at the start of the ordering line) as "Acapulco Tostada.  If you're just in for a coffee and a pastry, the Flying Star has this ridiculous baked goods case filled to the brim with goodies- pies, cupcakes, cookies, scones, cakes (by the slice and whole), sweet yeast breads, and brownies.

Other advantages: good for large parties as the dining area is spacious with tables suitable for pushing together, good for families with kids because of their kids menu & aforementioned spacious dining area, good for cheap eats (get their small mac & cheese or just a beverage and you're set), good for breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast types, friendly service that allows for "public solitude", good for people watching & eavesdropping (especially the emo-teens), good public bulletin board in the entryway & bookcrossing shelf in the back.

Disadvantages: not my choice for anything New Mexican, sometimes noisy, food is middle of the road (but still adequate & fresh).

The Star is generally my choice for weekday evening snack-study sessions.  If you go, be sure to sign up for their rewards program.  It's free of charge and once you accumulate a certain amount of points, you get free coffees, pastries, and other such coupons.  Ez-pz!