Vee Phonphakdy
Beast and Cleaver | Seattle, WA
December 2025
Vee Phonphakdy came to butchery through persistence. Born in a Lao refugee camp and raised in the United States from 1996 onward, he found his footing in grocery work before moving into meat and produce. In 2018, he joined V. Miller Meats in Sacramento, California and apprenticed across the shop while he got his chops. He rendered fats, made sausages, and learned emulsions under mentor butchers Eric Miller, Eric Sternberg, and Nick Giovanetti. Charcuterie became the bridge between Phonphakdy’s sense of craft and purpose: a way to use leftover parts and keep waste to a minimum.
Phonphakdy moved to Seattle in 2023 specifically to join the team at Beast and Cleaver, where he is now head butcher. The Ballard shop runs a whole-animal program with Pure Country Farms in Ephrata, Washington, breaking down one whole cow and two pigs weekly, and streamlining cuts across the butcher case, a small bistro, and pop-ups. The charcuterie case reflects that route: wagyu ’nduja to capture surplus fat, blood mortadella bound for silky texture, jambon persillé from cured hocks, and bresaola from eye of round. His Lao sausage—built from pig’s head with lemongrass, lime leaf, dill, and chiles—brings a piece of Phonphakdy’s home to the meat case as well.
Day to day, Phonphakdy’s work centers on stewardship, prioritizing whole-animal utilization, clean systems, and consumer education around sourcing and animal welfare. When he’s not behind the case, he’s helping ramp up service at Beast and Cleaver’s newly opened steakhouse, The Beastro. Long term, he aims to pass on those skills to the next generation of chefs and butchers through hands-on training and community education programs focused on whole-animal utilization.
