Blackboards and Basil?s Get New Chef/GM
by January 24, 2000 12:00 am 124 views
Terry Held started the year 2000 by moving to Northwest Arkansas to be executive chef and general manager for Basil’s Cafe in Rogers and Blackboards Cafe in Bella Vista.
Both restaurants are owned by Randy McGuffin, who will remain involved in the operation of the restaurants.
Held came south from Monroe, Mich., where he owned two restaurants (Ernie’s and Village Cafe) and a bakery (Gold Leaf Bakery).
Held worked with McGuffin at two restaurants in Florida: Maxaluna in Boca Raton and the The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach. Held spent two years at each of the prestigious restaurants.
Held also worked at restaurants in New York City and Paris. Held graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and received a master’s degree in restaurant management from Florida International University in Miami.
Held says he plans to change the menu at Basil’s, but Blackboards will remain pretty much the same.
“The first thing we’re going to do is take that quality up a notch,” Held says.
Instead of strictly Italian, Held says, Basil’s will begin serving a more Mediterranean cuisine when the new menu is unveiled Feb. 1.