Jun. 16—New Mexico entrepreneur Allan Affeldt hopes third time's the charm as he reopens the Legal Tender Saloon & Eating House in Lamy once again.

Affeldt, who has bought and restored historic hospitality locations throughout New Mexico, has lured Santa Fe chef Murphy O'Brien back to Lamy as well to run the business, this time as his partner.

Plans call for Legal Tender to be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when the restaurant reopens in late July or early August. Hours could go later if business warrants it, Affeldt said. He expects to announce the menu and more precise operating hours in early July.

"Small crew, small saloon menu," O'Brien said in a text message. "Get our feet on the ground and take it from there."

This will be Legal Tender's third opening since Affeldt acquired the property, which was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

In round one, O'Brien leased Legal Tender from Affeldt in August 2019 but withdrew six months later to focus more on his own restaurant, Cafe Fina in Santa Fe. That was about the same time all restaurants were closed March 15, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In round two, Affeldt reopened Legal Tender ion Sept. 25, 2021, with restaurateur Sean Sinclair at the helm as his partner. When Sinclair announced he was scaling back to private events a year later, Affeldt put the historic building up for sale.

"We're going to take it off the market when we reopen," Affeldt said.

In a text message, O'Brien said leaving Legal Tender made sense in 2020. "And now, coming back does. I didn't realize how much I missed the space. It's no surprise that people [are] instantly enchanted with it. And it's hard to say no to Allan Affeldt and his passion to preserve," he wrote.

"Everybody loved what we were doing there, including me and Murphy," Affeldt said in an interview. "He was a little overwhelmed back then with Fina. It just wasn't the best time for him. He's in a better place now."

O'Brien is bringing in Michael Gintert as chef. Gintert was a chef at Legal Tender in the 2010s before Affeldt bought the place and is also former chef at Blue Heron at Ojo Santa Fe in its Sunrise Springs Spa Resort days.

The initial Legal Tender hours coincide with Amtrak and Sky Railway stops at the Lamy Depot. Amtrak stops at Lamy at 12:58 p.m. and 1:54 p.m. Sky Railway operates excursion trains from Santa Fe to Lamy.

Nuckolls Brewing at the Lamy Depot, across the parking lot from Legal Tender, is opening for the season June 24, said Bill Banowsky, owner of Nuckolls, the Violet Crown and an owner of Sky Railway.

"We're really excited about Murphy and Allan reopening Legal Tender," Banowsky said in an interview. "We will have more things for people to do in Lamy. That's a good thing."

Banowsky said one option is for people to charter the train for dinner excursions to Legal Tender.

"They are excited to do special trains to Lamy," Affeldt said.