Doodlet's: the toy store that makes the Pasqual's wait disappear.

Doodlet's is a toy store on the Plaza, around the corner from Cafe Pasqual's, and it's the single most useful piece of intel for any family trying to do brunch in downtown Santa Fe. The Pasqual's wait runs 15 to 30 minutes most mornings. Doodlet's makes that wait disappear.

The store itself is genuinely worth the time, not just a holding pen. It's filled with quirky gifts, vintage-feeling toys, small-batch crafts, books, stickers, the kind of inventory that doesn't exist at any chain toy store. Every shelf has something the kids haven't seen before, and a lot of it is small enough to fit in a stocking or a birthday-party gift bag.

The way to use it on a Pasqual's morning: put your name in for a table, then walk straight across to Doodlet's. By the time the kids have circumnavigated the room twice and you've negotiated which two small things they're allowed to take home, your buzzer is going off. The wait stops feeling like a wait and starts feeling like part of the morning.

But it's also worth a stop on its own. We send guests there even when we're not eating at Pasqual's, because it's one of the better small-souvenir destinations in town. Stocking stuffers for nieces and nephews. A birthday gift you forgot to pack. The kind of small, memorable thing you'd buy a friend's kid on the way home from a trip and have them remember it.

The shop is family-run and feels like it. The staff are kind to kids, used to brunch-line traffic, and don't hover. Prices are reasonable for the level of curation. Nothing in there is the kind of thing you'd see at every other tourist shop on the Plaza.

Practical notes. Open standard daytime hours; closes earlier than you'd expect, so this is a morning or early-afternoon stop, not an after-dinner browse. Cash and cards both work. The store is small — if you're a group of six, expect to take turns rather than all crowd in. There are bathrooms a few doors down at the Plaza public facilities if a small person needs them mid-browse.

Pair it with: a Pasqual's brunch, a Plaza walk that includes the Palace of the Governors portal where Native artists sell their work, or a coffee at Iconik's bookstore location a few blocks over. None of those is more than a five-minute walk apart.

The toy store that makes the brunch wait disappear, and quietly one of the best small-gift shops in town in its own right.