Pawn Stars, Rollin Smoke Barbeque & Gambling to Pawn Plaza

If you thought the line of fans outside the famed Gold & Silver Pawn Shop was long, it probably won't be much shorter outside Rick Harrison's forthcoming barbecue joint and tavern at his under construction Pawn Plaza.

Located across the parking lot from the set of the mega-hit Pawn Stars TV show, beer, barbecue and gambling will occupy two floors at the retail and dining concept, with views looking out onto Las Vegas Boulevard.

To entice the locals, Gold & Silver owner Rick Harrison is joining forces with Las Vegas barbecue favorites Rollin Smoke Barbeque to create the currently named Rick's Rollin Smoke Barbeque & Tavern.

Run by chef John Holland and his Arkansas-native family, Rollin Smoke has a fierce reputation as one of the top tier barbecue creators in the city. "Low and slow" is how Rollin Smoke cooks their meat, while also serving "home country sides," a monster-sized Outlaw Burger and lots of paper towels to help clean up from their signature sauce.

Rick's Rollin Smoke Barbeque & Tavern rendering - Chesnick Scott Design

Pawn Plaza is being created with a $2 million budget and container pods built by local firm Xtreme Manufacturing. On the ground floor will sit the 1,152-square-foot barbecue joint. The interior design, videos shown on TVs and menu items will all be tied together with a yet to be revealed "theme."

The very casual restaurant will serve cafeteria-style with hot and cold dishes and a meat counter. Self-serve soda machines will be installed, but beer or wine will brought to you by staff. Downstairs has room for 32 shared seats, including a long thin table with room for eight. There are no individual tables, so visitors will be dining up close and personal alongside the usual wide range of global visitors seen visiting the shop.

Rick's Rollin Smoke Barbeque & Tavern rendering - Chesnick Scott Design

The atmosphere upgrades one floor up, inside the 864-square-foot tavern, which features a 288-square-foot balcony patio. Food can be ordered and delivered by a dumb waiter system that will lift the barbecue up to the upper floor. Here, the hope is to add video gaming into the bar and a separate counter top, operating 13 video gambling terminals. Four-seat tables are offered on this level, inside, and out on the patio, with room for 40 guests upstairs.

Rollin Smoke is no stranger to attentive fans of the Pawn Stars show with name-checks in recent episodes. And in September, the team brought their mobile smoker over to the shop to cater to the staff.

Rick Harrison has explained the inspiration for Pawn Plaza was Downtown Vegas' Container Park, which coincidentally hosts fellow local smokers Big Ern's BBQ inside one of Xtreme Manufacturing's colorful pods.

Word of Rollin Smoke's culinary skills has already reached the Travel Channel, which highlighted their smoked meatloaf and their over-the-top, monster-sized, "Outlaw Burger" on the channel's Food Paradise TV show last year.