It's tempting to call Roland Baker, the cofounder of this industrial specialty coffee shop at the nexus of Wynwood, Downtown, and Edgewater, the mayor, but given how backward most Miami mayors are we'll save the compliment. Instead, rest easy knowing that in an era when coffee shops embrace an aloof millennial hipster motif and staff that seem unwilling to utter more than a curt, monosyllabic greeting, Baker is a kind of coffee man of yesteryear. He knows each one of his regulars, and soon-to-become regulars, by name. He knows what they do, how many kids they have, what they've been up to lately, and best of all who in the room they will get along with and can perhaps make a few bucks with. Of course, a slice of almond cake ($4) and the espresso and tonic ($6.25) are a perfect afternoon pick-me-up, but it's the fact that Vice City has a true personality, thanks to those behind the counter, that makes it extra special.

If Miami is a global crossroad, then Mary's, which never closes, is a crossroad within a crossroad. Here, in the middle of the night, you can find regular folks doing their laundry while munching on a croqueta or some drunk young professional from the Grove grabbing a late-night snack. During the day, families pop in for an armful of cold drinks while someone else stops in for a quick Cuban sandwich on a 15-minute break from work. The blue awning and hum of the traffic offers a special kind of solace, a moment of relaxation, even as construction thumps all around and a pair of tires occasionally shriek. Never fret. With a medianoche ($5) in hand, all of the concerns about what you may have done earlier that night, or what you might have to slog through in a haze in the day ahead slip away.