During his days installing carpet in The Villages, Jeremy Zajac not only dreamed of a different direction, he orchestrated it through his own determination. His destiny was to be in the kitchen of a popular restaurant creating menus and directing a staff of employees, and it wasn’t going to happen while kicking in carpet.
He had studied culinary arts in his native New England – Zajac moved to Florida from New Hampshire in 2006 – and knew at some point an opportunity would arise for him to put his education to the test. Driving to work every day he would pass by Eagle Ridge Golf Club and noticed a sign they were hiring in the kitchen. That small opening was all it took, and he accepted a job as a line cook. That was just the first small step in a journey that has led him to one of Ocala’s most unique dining destinations, Elevation 89, where he is fulfilling that dream of running the show in a kitchen that serves to packed houses most every night.
“When I was at Eagle Ridge, my landlord worked for Felix’s restaurant in that old pink house on the boulevard,” Zajac recalls. “(Loring Felix) was the big guy in town at that time and everyone knew him, and I just really wanted to work for him.”
With his landlord’s connections, Zajac worked his way into Felix’s orbit, doing whatever odd jobs it took just to be around the iconic venue and its master. He often worked for free, painting the building or even cleaning cobwebs on the outside, all with the hope that his chance would come.
Finally, after one year at Eagle Ridge and knocking himself out with odd jobs at the boulevard restaurant, Felix hired Zajac as a line cook and there would be no looking back.
“It was my introduction into the restaurant world in Ocala,” Zajac said. “Up home, it’s what you know; down here, it’s who you know.”
It was at Felix’s that Zajac also learned his first lesson in Ocala culture, that horse people may not look the part, but they do spend the part. One night during a high-class event where patrons were dressed accordingly, in came a group that looked as though they didn’t belong.
“I think they came in from HITS, dirty boots and jeans,” Zajac remembers. “I was going to tell Felix they can’t be in here like that, but he said, ‘No, just stop, and wait.’ They went to the bar and ordered and Felix says, ‘just watch,’ and they pull out of their pockets all this cash. He says, ‘That’s different – that’s Ocala.’”
Under Felix, Zajac not only learned lessons in the culture, he also honed the art of cooking. There, Zajac learned how to create dishes by hand, something that has become a bit of a lost art today. For example, even salad dressings were made from scratch in Felix’s kitchen and that made a huge impression.
At Felix’s, Zajac was taught how to make risotto and the soups for which Chef Felix was famous. “A lot of where I am today is because of Chef Felix and because of the things I learned from him.”
After five years at Felix’s, Zajac moved on to Ocala’s trendy spot of the 2010s, Cuvée Wine and Bistro, where he would be mentored as a sous chef under Culinary Institute of America-trained Jim Schuman. Another five years would pass and Zajac now possessed the knowledge and the mettle to make the jump from sous to executive.
That’s when Tim and Janice Thomas took a chance on Zajac and hired him as chef at Brooklyn’s Backyard. His first position as executive chef taught him another new talent – making pizza – and his five years there gave him experience in the driver’s seat of the kitchen.
After five years at Brooklyn’s Backyard and just before the onset of COVID, Zajac began to experience that slow burn behind the line, the fatigue of a chef working long hours, and once again it was time to move on.
“I was going in at 8 o’clock in the morning and leaving at 10 o’clock at night, and just decided I wanted to do something totally different,” Zajac admitted. “Tim taught me a lot, but I didn’t want the long hours and went to assisted living down in The Villages.”
As executive chef for Trinity Springs, Zajac seemed to have the perfect position: every night the exact number of patrons to serve, the learning of different kinds of cuisine, and best of all, routinely clocking out for the night around 6-7 p.m. Still, something didn’t seem right.
“You get attached to the residents that are there, then they pass, and you watch them go from eating off this menu you created, then the next thing you know they’re being wheeled out. That was something I didn’t want to do and I took a break for a little while.”
The experience at Trinity Springs, in which he admits he was never one to “get along with corporate very well” nearly triggered a career change. Then, he was introduced to Chris Wilson and Daren Robinson, two former golf professionals who had become successful restaurateurs. Their beloved chef and partner at County Line Smokehouse and Spirits, Robert “Ricky Bobby” Morgan, had passed away and they needed to push forward with more than just a chef, but a general manager that would help them navigate the opening of multiple sister restaurants.
What ensued was yet another challenge for Zajac and another chance to learn new things about the restaurant business. In a year, they opened up The Anchor near Sunset Harbor, a fast track not generally noted in the restaurant business. Then came The Pizza Joint next door.
“They’re very quick, no messing around,” Zajac said of Wilson and Robinson. “We got in there in January and they said, ‘let’s open up in February.’ That was a complete transition, taking that from two years being closed to cleaning it up and getting it organized and opening it up and getting the equipment to work.”
All this set the table for the partnership’s crown jewel, Elevation 89, situated at the Ocala International Airport. “It had sand on the ground concrete walls, no bar top – it was nothing.”
Battling supply chain issues a remnant of COVID, a limited staff and the quick turnover demands of Wilson and Robinson, Zajac and everyone else went to work and opened Elevation’s doors in just several months. A busy opening has not let up since, and this time Zajac says he’s landed in his permanent home.
“I’m proud of the whole thing,” Zajac boasts. “On the menu, there’s a little Brooklyn’s there, a little Felix’s there, and a little Cuvée there. People loved those places so I tried to take the popular things from there and put my own twist on them. We showcase what was in Ocala and where I came from, in Ocala – why not in an airport? It seems right.”
