First Word: The Smashed Pig Gastropub to Fremont Street

Husband and wife chef team Martin Swift and Linda Rodriguez will display their culinary talents on Fremont Street when they launch The Smashed Pig gastropub this summer. The couple previously garnered attention for their Japanese cuisine at Hachi at Red Rock Resort

The long, thin, 1,860-square-foot space was once home to a tattoo parlor. The building is owned by the pair's new landlord, the Downtown Project and has neighbors The Griffin bar and the former sites of Kabob Korner and Uncle Joe’s Pizza on either side. Those fast food outlets are currently being remolded into Flippin' Good Burgers & Shakes.

The gastropub project is described as serving "lunch and dinner, offering seasonal comfort food, artisanal beers, wines and cocktails."

Already promised for the tipsy porker's menu, the "Smashed Pig burger," chicken curry, a seared salmon burger and a roasted beet, bacon and goat cheese salad. In a nod to Swift's Liverpool origins, U.K. pub staples like pasties and pies will be served, plus a Christmas-time favorite, a fruity mincemeat pie. "Smashed" is British slang for drunk.

The chef couple were both trained by Nobu Matsuhisa, working at Nobu in London and New York before their Las Vegas residency at the Red Rock Resort. Construction has begun and a timely application for a tavern license puts them on schedule for the summer timetable.