A local busi­ness owner’s wet dream, the Star began as a far-flung satel­lite of Cal­i­for­nia ice cream chain The Dou­ble Rain­bow. Took a few years for the new name to catch on and old-time locals will still refer to them as “the Dou­ble Yuppy”, apro­pos of their growth model. It used to be the place you rec­om­mended every­one new in town go. Now, the Star’s the kind of place you take wealthy rel­a­tives ready to foot the bill.

There’s a lot of dis­cus­sion about whether or not Fly­ing Star and Satel­lite Cof­fee are owned by the same peo­ple. To set the record straight, the answer is, yes they are, and while they are dif­fer­ent, they have a sim­i­lar design struc­ture and sell each other’s wares. You’ll notice the comfy booths and cafe tables plus the off-the-wall color schemes are pretty sim­i­lar from loca­tion to loca­tion. Own­ers Mark and Jean Bern­stein have said the places are designed for peo­ple to hang out in (Cross­winds Weekly, July 8–15, 2004) .

And if you’re low on cash or lack­ing an office, this hang­outabil­ity is key: there are few sub­sti­tutes for the end­less cof­fee, iced tea, and mostly-dependable WiFi (the reg­is­tra­tion is free, and just to stop free­load­ers from down­load­ing HD movies). Satel­lite offers more cre­ative options in the caf­feinated drink cat­e­gory (includ­ing loose teas — and they sell all their beans and teas for home brew­ing, too), and Fly­ing Star has a full kitchen, with Satel­lite just stock­ing a few of their pas­tries and to-go options (like break­fast burritos).

The food is made from scratch and gen­er­ally good, with options for every way of life — vegan, veg­e­tar­ian, gluten-free, loca­vore, and even Kosher (not some­thing you see often in ABQ). Still, it’s hard not to feel you’re over-paying. Over the years, the por­tions have got­ten smaller while the prices have increased.

For all our griev­ances, the bak­ery is where they really shine. Don’t miss the football-sized éclairs, and splurge on a $30 cake or pie for your next impromptu din­ner party. Or grab a cookie — all of them are enor­mous, and pro­ceeds for their sugar cook­ies go to the Ani­mal Humane Society.

When we say they’re fuck­ing every­where, we mean just point your ass in a direc­tion and drive. But if you insist, here’s one map, and here’s another.

Tags: Coffee, Queer-friendly, Vaguely Corporate