On a busy street in downtown Miami, as horns blare, cars weave past buses discharging passengers and delivery robots bump along the sidewalk, Las Palmas restaurant feeds Miami at an open-air counter.
There are only 33 seats, but that doesn’t stop regulars. Patrons grab coladas and cortaditos to kick-start their mornings, while others wolf down breakfast platters for sustenance or arrive on their lunch breaks for pan con bistec or Cuban sandwiches, maybe a burger or palomilla steak.
But now after 45 years, the Latin American spot at 209 SE First St. is closing, taking with it a disappearing part of Miami culinary culture: the low-key, inexpensive mom-and-pop restaurant that has become a gathering spot for a community…