It’s all tied together. Mob ties? In a cheeky coincidence, Chelsea Newton, bartender at Oscar’s Steakhouse at Plaza, grew up working in her family’s restaurant, High Point in Monteagle, Tenn. The restaurant is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and legend has it that mob boss Al Capone used it as a haven for when he traveled between Chicago and Miami. Now, Newton is bartending at Oscar’s, named after Oscar Goodman, the famed Las Vegas lawyer for the mob. “The connection is too funny, right?” she says.
Newton has been slinging drinks at Oscar’s for five years. She made the move to Las Vegas in 2016 after visiting the city just once, on her 25th birthday. “As soon as I visited, I was like, ‘This is me. This is it!’ I was so attracted to the lights and lifestyle,” she says. Newton brought her lifelong experience in restaurants—her family has long-owned several restaurants in Tennessee and she’s worked every position in them with a concentration in bartending—to Las Vegas and worked her skills at various properties before joining Plaza.
“Hospitality is in my blood,” she says. “You have to be welcoming, and you really have to have that personality. At the end of the day anyone should be able to sit down at your bar and order a drink and feel welcome. It goes back to my Southern hospitality roots—I want people to feel at home at my bar.”
Photo by: Christopher DeVargas
Libation: Pearalegal
Oscar’s Steakhouse excels in that old-school Vegas vibe, and Newton is behind the bar charming guests and making drinks like the popular Pearalegal. The seasonal cocktail is a mix of Goslings Black Seal rum, spiced pear liqueur, apple liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup and garnished with a cinnamon apple crisp.
Benefit: When visiting Newton at the bar, ask her to make the secret off-the-menu cocktail, Lawless Lychee Martini.
Plaza, 702.386.7227. plazahotelcasino.com
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