Wynwood lost one of its pioneers. The owner of Enriqueta’s Cuban restaurant has died

Threatened by towering condos on one of the last undeveloped corners in Wynwood, Jose Luis Pla maintained a Miami legacy.

Pla’s Enriqueta’s Cuban sandwich shop survived the neighborhood’s transition from shuttered factories and shipping containers to gritty art district to gentrified South Florida hotspot. Through it all, Pla fed Miami some of the best croquetas in town and a steak sandwich that made him, his family and Enriqueta’s Miami corner legendary.

Pla died late Wednesday night at his home in Sweetwater from complications of liver and pancreatic cancer, his family said. He was 70.

“He was always thinking of his family. That’s what kept him there (at Enriqueta’s),” his daughter Leidys Pla said. “He wanted this business for us and for the community. That was his life, really.”

Pla, one of seven siblings, grew up in his father’s bakery in Los Arabos in Matanzas, Cuba, and learned to be a master baker. He continued his trade when he arrived in the United States in 1981, crossing the Mexican border with his wife and two young daughters in tow.

“He wanted a better life for his wife and his daughters,” said Leidys.

In Miami, he immediately started as a head baker. And when an older couple who owned El Segundo Gallito bakery saw how hard he worked, they offered him their bakery, Pla paying for it little by little over time. It allowed him the foothold he needed to open two other bakeries, but he was frustrated at rising rents that forced him to close. He vowed that would never happen to him again.

He found that permanent spot in 2001, when he and his wife, Lucia, bought Enriqueta’s from another set of mom-and-pop, the Suarezes. Five years later, he bought the entire 5,000-square-foot property on which it stood and never let go.

The fluorescent glow pouring out of Enriqueta’s walk-up coffee ventanita at dawn became a beacon for the working class neighborhood. Pla brought his recipes from Cuba and teamed with his wife and daughters, Belkis and Leidys, to run it wholly as a family restaurant.

And he understood the neighborhood, often feeding the homeless around his restaurant or employing them. The restaurant became a hangout for all stripes, from local courthouse staff to star chefs like Michael Schwartz, Zak Stern from Zak the Baker and Matt Kuscher of the nearby Kush and Lokale.

When an electrical fire caused Enriqueta’s to close in 2013, Pla remodeled and reopened four months later rather than sell one of the last long-running family restaurants in Wynwood.

“This guy was something else,” his longtime friend, and later his accountant, Frank Martinez said. “He was a true patriarch to his family.”

Meanwhile, Pla quietly expanded, owning several other bakeries, including Cafe de Pla in Fontainebleau.

And when developers came, Pla stood taller than the pressure at 5-foot-2. He turned down offers to sell Enriqueta’s and watched his business become the “Up” house, surrounded by condos on three sides.

“He knew it was a gem. He knew what he had was special,” said Pla’s grandson Giancarlo Morera, who works at Enriqueta’s.

Two years ago, Pla underwent open-heart surgery. And during a routine checkup afterward, doctors spotted cancer in his liver that had spread to the pancreas. He started chemotherapy, Martinez usually the one driving him to his appointments.

Toward the end of his cancer treatment, about two months ago, he suffered a stroke, Martinez said. Despite attempts at rehabilitation, he was brought home under hospice care Monday.

Surrounding him when he died were his wife and daughters and several of his longtime Enriqueta’s employees. He is also survived by four grandchildren, Luis, Melanie, Marcos and Giancarlo.

Services open to friends and family will be held Sept. 27 at Memorial Plan funeral home at 9800 SW 24th St. A private burial will take place Saturday.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to his longtime cause, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. The restaurant will remain closed through the weekend but will reopen for the neighborhood Monday morning, Martinez said, just as Pla would have wanted it.

This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 5:05 PM.