LAS VEGAS
Bartender / Restaurateur Story:
Nectaly Mendoza of Cleaver – Butchered Meats, Seafood & Classic Cocktails
vast range of sauces and rubs for every palate, is already an L.V. off the Strip favorite.
LAS VEGAS LEGENDARY BARTENDER and restaurateur Nectaly Mendoza and his Cleaver team rose like Phoenixes above the challenges of Covid, and a dramatic fire that nearly ended their new restaurant venture before it even began. With smoke and water damage from the fire that raged in the building upstairs from the venue, Cleaver was meant to shut down for repairs for nine months. The resilient team however turned things around in three weeks. Owner Nectaly shared, ‘We have a lot of people on our team with children and even children’s children who depend on us. To keep that many people out of work was just not an option. We just had to get everybody back.’ Cleaver, which opened in early September, boasts an impressive 8,000-square-foot corner space with several dining rooms and an idyllic horseshoe bar. Its to die for wine list and tantalizing cocktail creations, along with high-grade comfort food menu stunners like bone marrow with blueberry demi-glace, cherry lamb chops, a raw bar and surf and turf with a
20 | ChefsWarehouse.com
Nectaly offered, ‘Due to our reputation and success with our first venue Herb&Rye, we were able to do everything we wanted to do with Cleaver without financial limitations. We wanted to have a high-end steakhouse without the high-end stuffiness. Cleaver is more than a restaurant, it’s a meeting ground. We get everyone from Marshawn Lynch, to school teachers, to priests, to nightclub organizers. We get all walks of life and they all want to be seen and not be seen in the same place at the same time. We joke around and say ‘Cleaver is a place where you can go to celebrate a wedding or a divorce. There’s nothing you can’t do at Cleaver!’ Beyond his wildly successful venues and unique mixologist/bar program talent, Nectaly Mendoza, (like so many of the food industry greats CW Magazine highlights,) inspires us past the procuring and splendor of indulgence to something even more compelling. – Zen and the Art of Bartending with Nectaly Mendoza, Owner/Bartender Cleaver Las Vegas Bartending is one of the purest forms of how to reflect your artistry. The world looks at bartending as a stepping stone job. In reality, this is a beautiful career path. Bartenders are everything; every walk of life, every race, color, creed. They reflect who and what they are, from behind the bar. Bartenders are artists in their own right and the crowd is their instrument. The music they play is how they make everybody feel. The open-minded-
