For Natalie Allen, life happened when she was busy making other plans—in a good way. For 14 years the Salt Lake City native was a professional hair and makeup artist, and when she moved to Las Vegas to further her career she worked her other skill, bartending part time. After a handful of years doing both, it’s when she joined The Smashed Pig in 2018 that Allen discovered her passions had switched.
“I laugh about it now because hair and makeup was my full time and bartending was the side hustle and it quickly turned into my full-time hustle,” says Allen, who is now the gastropub’s lead bartender. “The Smashed Pig is the place that flipped my two passions. It was due to the environment. It was something fresh, something different for me. Which was exciting. … It’s nice to have something where I am excited to go to work, where I can be creative.”
While Allen talks fondly about the type of environment she gets to work in at The Smashed Pig, it’s also a place where she can put her skills and passions for spirits to the test. She even has a few of her own cocktails on the menu. “I’m the bourbon girl,” she says. “It’s one of my favorite spirits. It reminds me of home—my dad and I would drink bourbon and smoke cigars together. When I started bartending, my Old-Fashioned game grew very quickly. I pride myself on my Old-Fashioneds.”
We’ll Always Have Bangkok
For Allen, another bonus about The Smashed Pig is its location—the flourishing downtown area, a neighborhood that Allen loves and makes her home, too. When she’s not behind the bar you’ll find her riding her vintage Schwinn bicycle and checking out all the art downtown. “I’m very inspired by the art in this city, how big of an arts city Las Vegas has become.”
We’ll Always Have Bangkok
Drawing inspiration from the famous line about Paris in the 1942 movie Casablanca, this new cocktail is not on the menu yet, so you must ask for it by name. The Asian-inspired recipe for We’ll Always Have Bangkok includes Grey Goose vodka, basil-infused honey, yellow chartreuse, Thai-spice bitters and lemon juice. “It’ll start out citrusy and slightly sweet with an herbaceous finish with a little bit of heat at the end from the Thai spice,” Allen says.
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