More than a decade ago, Chuck Nguyen, beverage manager for The Lounge at Harrah’s Las Vegas, moved to Las Vegas. “I wanted to come out to the best of the best,” he says. “Vegas is obviously the trendsetter for clubs and bars.”
Nguyen spent more than five years bartending in Michigan before deciding he needed to bring his skill set behind the bar to the world’s mecca for bartenders. And since then, Nguyen has bartended at the city’s most famous nightclubs and dayclubs, including Tao Beach at The Venetian, 1OAK at The Mirage, Jewel at Aria and Omnia at Caesars Palace (where he still currently bartends on the weekends).
Earlier this year, after working for eight years as a bartender at Influence, The Pool at The Linq, Nguyen caught wind that The Linq’s sister property, Harrah’s Las Vegas, was looking for a manager to run its new hot spot, The Lounge. “I jumped at the chance to continue my growth and move up in the company,” he says. “it’s a very different job, I’ve learned. … The biggest difference is who I’m focused on. As a bartender, you’re focused more on the guest. As a manager, that’s still a goal, but my main priority is my employees, my team.”
Two decades into the industry, Nguyen isn’t done moving up the ladder. His ultimate goal? To open his own bar or nightclub in Vegas. “I would like to think this is just the beginning. I couldn’t learn as much as I’ve learned without coming here to Vegas. If I want to be part of the best, I have to learn from the best.”
Libation
Lavender Lane: The Lounge inside Harrah’s is a new, contemporary space where bartenders are whipping up classic cocktails with a twist and unique specialty cocktails like the Lavender Lane. The cocktail is a mix of Fords London dry gin, crème de violette, lavender syrup, lemon juice and Red Bull The Blue Edition.
Benefit: For Harrah’s Las Vegas 50th anniversary, order the specially created Gold Fashioned at any property bar in October.
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