Inked Mag Staff

March 3rd, 2017

Thompson Seattle Hosts Tattoo-Themed Dinner and Pop-up Tattoo Shop

We don’t know about you, but getting tattooed gives us the major munchies—especially after a long tattoo session. After the artist securely wraps up our new tattoos, we scurry off to…

We don’t know about you, but getting tattooed gives us the major munchies—especially after a long tattoo session. After the artist securely wraps up our new tattoos, we scurry off to the nearest eatery to satiate our hunger. However, we’ve never followed up a tattoo session with a “tattoo-themed” dinner before.

Seattle, Washington-based luxury boutique hotel, Thompson Seattle, will be hosting a pop-up tattoo shop, which will be followed by a tattoo-themed dinner at their nationally-acclaimed restaurant, Scout, this upcoming Tuesday (March 7). The experience will celebrate tattoo art by taking the guests through the journey of an artist—from the moment individuals are inspired to walk the path of an ink slinger, to the moment their dreams of becoming bonafide, world-renowned tattooers come to fruition.

Flip through the slideshow below to read get more details on this one-of-a-kind dining experience!

(Scout. Photo: Thompson Seattle)

The idea behind the event—appropriately titled “INKed”—has been something that Scout’s ExecutiveChef Derek Simciktold us he has been mulling over for a long while now.

“For a while now, I’ve been playing with the idea of how to collaborate [dining with tattooing]. Obviously being a chef, I have a passion for food, but prior to that, I was originally going to art school. It’s one of those things where art has always been a passion of mine, and I guess getting tattooed falls into that,” Chef Simcik said. “My friends that are tattoo artists all have a huge passion and interest in what I do, and vice versa, I’m always geeking out over the pieces that they’re doing. So, I thought,How can I combine the two?“

(Chef Derek Simcik. Photo: Thompson Seattle)

(Flash sheet by Kenny Brown for the INKed pop-up tattoo shop session taking place prior to the dinner. Photo: Kenny Brown/Instagram)

Always the one to challenge himself, Chef Simcik says that he likes to sort of tell a story with his menus. With the menu for “INKed” he wanted to showcase the tattoo lifestyle and the stories that come with it. By inviting tattoo artists like Kenny Brown, Derek Noble, Amanda Riner and Tascar Wise to tattoo the guests before dinner, he took it a step further. Each artist will bring with them flash sheets for the guests to pick and choose which design they’d like to get tattooed on them by the artists. The designs will be a mix of traditional, old-school tattoos as well as designs that also match each artist’s individual style of tattooing.

(Scout. Photo: Thompson Seattle)

So, “What’s for dinner?” you ask.

Chef Simcik’s “story” begins with the first course interpreting the spark of inspiration that all artists are struck by, which sets them on the course to becoming artists. “The first one will be an interpretation of art, like big blots of art that’s edible,” the chef explained.

(Scout. Photo: Thompson Seattle)

The next course offers a bit of satire. “The next course will be poking a little bit of fun at the stereotype that most artists get really, really high off weed before they go off and draw. The course is made to look like the floral form of marijuana,” Chef Simcik told us.

The following course will be the interpretation of pen ink where in the story the artists picked up their pen. This will be represented by splatters all over the plates made of sauce, and the next course will introduce the sketch paper where the chefs will be manipulating vegetables to look like paper.

(Samples of the tattooed pork that will be served at the INKed dinner. Photo: Thompson Seattle)

“Now that you’ve created your drawing,” Chef Simcik explained, “the next course will be a piece of pork, which is actually tattooed with ink. Our guests will actually be eating tattooed cooked pork, which is all edible.”

The idea for the tattooed cooked pork came to Chef Simcik after seeing pictures on Instagram of one of his tattooer friends’ apprentices tattooing pig skin. A week after seeing this, he also saw a documentary that touched on the fact that, back in the 1700s, gents like Ben Franklin used squid ink on their quill pens to write.

(Samples of the tattooed pork that will be served at the INKed dinner. Photo: Thompson Seattle)

“I instantly just kind of put one and two together, and I was like, ‘Holy crap!'” Simcik recalls of the moment he came up with the idea of serving tattooed pork. “I asked my friend, ‘Is this possible?’ and she was like, ‘Let’s try it out.'” They had to work on it for a bit due to the thickness of the edible squid ink, but after adding a bit of water to it, it became like regular tattoo ink and they were able to tattoo it right on the pork skin.

(Scout. Photo: Thompson Seattle)

The last two courses are celebratory dishes representing when the artists finally see their dreams come true. The “party course” features pineapple powder served over mirrors and a straw to suck up the powder. “They’ll be sucking up the pineapple powder, but it’ll look like they’re getting ready to ‘party,'” which simulates the artist partaking in recreational drug use as a way to celebrate the chef explained. The final course will be a dessert containing rum and champagne, ’cause when you’ve made it big, you gotta break out that bubbly, baby.

The “INKed” dinner not only offers a unique dining experience—with a tattoo as an awesome added bonus—but it also has the future of art in mind, as $20 from each ticket sale will go to Adopt the Arts, a non-profit organization funding arts programs in public elementary schools.

(Chef’s Counter at Scout. Photo: Thompson Seattle)

“We chose the foundation because it’s one of the larger organizations with a good reputation. We wanted to make sure the money goes to what we need it to go to, which is to help support art. Given the political climate of our nation right now and the education system, [art] was one of the things announced that’s getting slashed in funding. We’ve all been affected by art class. Those are classes that I, personally, looked forward to when I was going to school. It was one of those things that kept me going and motivated. I think it’s something that we should all support. Even if we only raise like $1000, every little bit will help, and will send a message and start a conversation,” Chef Simcik passionately explained.

A tattoo, a mouth-watering full-course meal, and a percentage of the proceeds will be donated to support arts programs in schools. What are you still doing here? Click here and buy your ticket for this extraordinary event now!

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