Mary's Coin Laundry and Cafeteria

• Cuisine(s): Cuban, Latin, Sandwiches
  Price: $ $
  Payment Types: cash
• Attire: Casual
  Features: Kid Friendly, Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Takeout, Wheelchair Accessible
  Serving: Breakfast, Dinner, Late Night, Lunch, Snack Food
• Reservations: Not Necessary
  Parking: Lot Available

Description

Mary's Coin Laundry and Cafeteria opened in 1982 as a simple wash house. It was converted from a plant nursery and Bahamian-style wooden shack that had been around 55 years. Owner Victor Sanchez, a construction worker and son-in-law of the Mary for whom the place is named, then noticed that young people prefer to wash their clothes at night. So he added a coffee window. Through the years, the building has grown and the coffee window has become a cafeteria. Around 2001, the joint began 24-hour service, and today it's a beacon for late-night grub. It attracts everyone from cops to drunks and viejitos to kids and early risers. Whether you feel like downing a medianoche sandwich of ham, roast pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard ($4.50), sipping a cup of café con leche (a medium goes for $1.75), ordering a choripan ($4.50), or slurping a deliciously creamy mamey milkshake ($3.50), this is the only place in Miami where you can catch a whiff of detergent and butter in the wee hours - which, oddly enough, makes it oh so very 305.