Yesterday, Curbed Miami reported that developer Gil Dezer has purchased three acres in Sunny Isles Beach with plans to build a mix-use project, knocking down the existing building housing Epicure Gourmet Market. The space was previously home to iconic Miami deli Rascal House, which closed in 2008 after serving sandwiches piled high with corned beef for over 50 years. Daniel Patterson, chef of San Francisco's Coi, reminisced about his youth spent at the Rascal House for the most recent issue of Lucky Peach magazine:
"The first restaurant I ever loved was a deli in Miami called Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House...it opened in 1954, and maintained from then on the midcentury look of the kind of place where Frank Sinatra would eat after a show (which he did). Part New York-style deli, part diner, it had red vinyl booths, fluorescent lights and Formica tabletops. They served Russian-Jewish food - pastrami, chicken soup, and chopped liver."There is no word on Dezer's plans for the commercial use of his upcoming project.