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Chef Adam Bazaldua Leaves 303 Bar and Grill

By Carol Shih |

According to 303’s Facebook page, Chef Adam (formerly of Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen) and the owner of 303 Bar and Grill couldn’t ever agree on the restaurant’s concept.

Adam posted this cheery message on Sunday night:

“Hello FB friends!!! I would like to start off by saying thanks for all the support you have shown me with the new restaurant. Unfortunately, I am no longer the Chef at 303 Bar and Grill, due to a constant concept battle between the owner and myself. I am now no longer affiliated with the food that comes out of its kitchen, other than them using the menu that I designed and created. I WILL be on to bigger and better things soon, and I hope to have yalls support with my next venture. Thanks!! Talk to you all soon!”

Turns out big bar mogul Frank Carabetta is taking over Adam’s spot from yesterday’s post:

“The person making all the calls in his place now is a guy named Frank Carabetta. Just want everyone to know who to thank for all the changes being made to this restaurant!! If you would like to “like” and continue to follow this establishment, please find “ThreeOthree Barandgrill” on Facebook.”

Sounds like everyone’s happy with this arrangement…. for now.

UPDATE: Not everyone is happy in 303 land. Adam Bazaldua called to tell me about his fall-out with Frankie Carabetta.

Jump for the rest of the story.Something fishy is definitely happening over at 303 Bar and Grill. Adam Bazaldua claims he was being micro-managed by owner consultant Frankie Carabetta and that he couldn’t serve the exciting food he wanted – which isn’t anything to post about, really, until you Google search “Frank Carabetta” and discover his history of sour business relationships when he’s opening new bars.

I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. Everything was being done half-assed. A lot of red flags were thrown up in the construction phase. It was apparent that he was in financial pressure, and he just wanted to get the place open. We literally got our temporary CO the same day we had patrons come in. That’s also the day our staff came in. No one was trained. And he still hasn’t verbally told me that he let me go. He’s very unprofessional, to say the least. I was given a letter attached to my final paycheck (which wasn’t even the full amount, which I guess was his final jab at me). The piece of paper says I’ve been terminated and it’s signed by him and the general manager.

I’m not trying to bash this place. The owner? I’m bashing! Nothing was handled in a professional way. There’s a lot more to the story, a lot more that’s crooked.

Now Adam’s kicking himself in the foot for not doing a proper Google search before he started working with Frankie. (Dude, Google saves lives…) I tried calling Frankie for a comment last night, but he was nowhere to be found. If you see this, Frankie, you can shoot me an email.

UPDATE #2: There are two sides to every story.

Frankie says that Celia Lopez (co-owner of 303) spoke with Adam at length about his issues in the kitchen and that the construction phase was not a financial issue.

We wish Adam all the best. He’s a very talented guy. He’s probably going to be on tv shows. We have no ill-will towards him. He just needs seasoned time. He’s just not ready to run a kitchen. And I’m certainly not ready to micro-manage a kitchen, but that’s what I had to do.

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