Rebel House in Boca Raton sold to chef

When Rebel House opened in 2012, Eric Baker almost took the job as head chef. Six years ago, Baker met his future wife, Jill, at the Boca Raton gastropub. “It’s kind of funny how things have gone full circle,” Baker says.

Eric and Jill Baker are now the owners and operators of Rebel House after a whirlwind September that saw them depart Mazie’s restaurant in West Palm Beach, a restaurant Baker co-founded in 2018 and named after his grandmother.

“This all happened kind of fast,” Baker says.

Baker, a veteran South Florida chef who has worked at Steak 954 and Lobster Bar in Fort Lauderdale and Cafe Boulud and Max’s Harvest in Palm Beach County, seized the chance to buy Rebel House from co-founders Evan David and Mike Saperstein. Baker says he will keep the Rebel House name and concept, a modern pub with mismatched furniture and eclectic American fare, but intends to put his own spin on the menu.

“They had a great run here and the timing just worked out perfectly,” Baker said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Rebel House, at 297 E. Palmetto Park Road.

Baker says he’s been at the restaurant “pretty much day and night” since the purchase was completed Sept. 23, getting a feel for the staff and working on new dishes. He says he plans on introducing new items in coming days, including a matzo meal-crusted fried chicken based on a “Jewish Tuscan” recipe and a crispy roasted duck dish with bao buns.

Baker, a Boca Raton resident

who grew up on New York’s Long Island and trained at L’Ecole Escoffier in Paris, says life will be easier with a restaurant closer to home.

He and Jill have two children, ages 4 and 2. He says Jill will handle bookkeeping and other business tasks while he gets to concentrate on cooking and hospitality.

Saperstein and David still own and operate two fast

casual restaurants, Charm City Burger and El Jefe Luchador, both in Deerfield Beach. Baker says they were open to selling fullservice Rebel House because of the growing demands of their primary business, Sunshine Provisions, a high-end meat purveyor.

Ba ke r says he and Mazie’s co-founder, Jason Lakow, had talks with Rebel House earlier this year, and had considered turning it into a second Mazie’s outpost. Baker says he decided to go it alone on Rebel House after he and Lakow had a business breakup a month ago.

Mazie’s opened in early 2018 in West Palm Beach and also features comfort food, with some dishes paying tribute to Baker’s Jewish and Eastern European heritage.

“Mazie’s was the culmination of 15 years of hard work, and the ending was a very difficult thing,” Baker says. He says differing styles and philosophies led him and Jill, who handled bookkeeping, to leave. He says Jason and Sandra Lakow (a sommelier and Jason’s wife) will continue to operate the restaurant and keep the Mazie’s name.

“Partnerships aren’t easy and sometimes they don’t work out,” Baker says. “I wish them and Mazie’s well.”