This Miami restaurant was famous for its Puerto Rican flag mural. Now it’s closing

A Puerto Rican flag mural protecting a four-story constructing has been on the heart of a years-long combat between the restaurant that painted it and residents of its Miami neighborhood. Now the mural and the restaurant could quickly be gone.

La Placita Puerto Rican restaurant, a ardour venture between award-winning Miami chef Jose Mendín and actor Julián Gil, will shut after never-ending controversy over the flag mural, Mendín stated. It’s the end result of almost 4 years of code violations, fines, disagreements with residents and authorized wrangling with the town of Miami, which stated the mural was painted with out correct permission.

Mendín, a five-time James Beard award nominee for greatest chef within the South, stated the restaurant is trying to transfer to a brand new location however wouldn’t get into particulars of why he finally determined to color over the mural, citing pending authorized points. A ultimate date for closing La Placita has not been set, he stated.

Gil, a Spanish-language tv star, posted an outdated photograph lately of the clean constructing, with a damaged coronary heart emoji to his 3.8 million followers.

The venture left each males weary.

In December of 2018, Mendín and monetary backer Gil opened a restaurant to honor their love of Puerto Rican meals, with Mendín’s specific reward for elevating the delicacies. They commissioned Puerto Rico-born artist Hector Collazo Hernández to create the mural, entitled “Plantando Bandera (Staking Your Flag).”

The flag was an prompt hit with guests who lined up day by day to take selfies in entrance of the purple, white and blue mural.

However it was additionally an prompt irritant to some residents of the MiMo neighborhood, who complained about noise and site visitors and stated the towering portray went in opposition to the strict historic code that doesn’t enable murals.

The town slapped La Placita with greater than $60,000 in fines, $250 a day for every day it didn’t paint over the mural.

After greater than two years of failed compromises to exchange the flag mural with one thing that match the district, like a neon define of the flag, the Miami metropolis fee finally dominated in January 2020 that La Placita may maintain its mural — with a catch. It needed to paint over its mural every time a neighboring enterprise, which the fee had allowed to have a mural, closed or painted over its mural.

That compromise lasted one yr.

The neighboring enterprise, Natural Bites, closed, and in February 2021, La Placita obtained a violation discover and the method began another time.

“That is ridiculous. Perhaps MiMo don’t deserve my flag right here,” Mendin wrote in an Instagram put up in February 2021. “Bored with being focused by code compliance, police every single day for minimal and regular restaurant music. We received’t surrender that simply, however that is simply plain silly.”

Mendin, who was born in Puerto Rico however has made his profession in Miami with beloved eating places equivalent to Pubbelly, Pubbelly Sushi and Casa Isola eating places, stated he’s not giving up on making the meals of his native island.