Tattoo PDX

(left) Tattooist Tim Jordan, 32, Optic Nerve; (right) Chef John Eisenhart, 38, Pazzo

(left) Dusty York, 30, former Bluehour bartender
Age when he got his first tattoo: 22.
Number of tattoos: 11.
Favorite tattoo: Ginger Rogers, on his forearm.
(right) Matt Reed, 38, Tiger Lily Tattoo
Started tattooing: 1993.
Famous people he’s tattooed: His best friend, Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies, and Rasheed Wallace, ex-Trail Blazer, currently of the Detroit Pistons.
Favorite Portland restaurants: Alberta Street Oyster Bar & Grill and Lovely Hula Hands.

Dusty York’s tattoo by Matt Reed translates to “Wine is my death.” According to York, “It’s incredibly ironic, because I’m a bartender and I don’t drink.”

Favorite tattoos: The dragon his brother Paul Zenk tattooed on him, and the pepper shaker; his wife has a matching tattoo of a salt shaker. Favorite meal to prepare: “Swine is always good.”

(right) Saad Sweilem, 34, Pussycat Tattoo
Favorite tattoo: An eagle with a rose bannered by the word “tattoo,” inked by Henry Goldfield in San Francisco
Favorite Portland restaurant: “I don’t get out much, but when I do I like to get sushi at Saburo’s in Sellwood.”

Karl Zenk gets an image of French Toast—a Kidrobot-brand plush toy—tattooed on his leg by Saad Sweilem of Pussycat Tattoo.

Karl Zenk’s elk-heart pasties

(left) Adam Higgs, 33, chef-owner, Acadia Started cooking: In Omaha in 1991. Favorite food: “Anything that has to do with charcuterie—especially sausages and patés.”

Adam Higgs (left) and Paul Zenk at Infinity Tattoo

Adam Higgs got his first tattoo at the event—an old French salami advertisement by Paul Zenk.

Adam Higgs’s smoked, bone-in, slow-cooked pork belly and spareribs with mustard

(left) Sarah Higgs, 31, manager-owner, Acadia
Favorite tattoo: The peacock on her right leg.
On why so many chefs have tattoos: “Tattoo artists and chefs are cut from the same cloth. They’re the same type of people; they’re art-oriented, but they’re practical and they want to make money. So they use their gift to propel them in life. Similar paths, just different textiles.”

(right) Tyler Adams, 34, Infinity Tattoo
First tattoo: A spider on his leg.
Favorite tattoo: Day of the Dead skull on his arm by Bill Salmon of Diamond Club Tattoo Studio in San Francisco.
Favorite Portland restaurant: Toro Bravo.

Sarah Higgs’s silverware tattoo by Tyler Adams

Sarah Higgs’s chocolate chip cookie sandwiches with bacon ice cream

(left) Tommy Habetz, 36, Bunk Sandwiches
First tattoo: Deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna. He got it right after Gotham Building Tavern opened in 2005.
Most painful tattoo: Scorpion on his forearm with the tail on his wrist.

(right) Alice Kendall, 38, Infinity Tattoo
When she learned to tattoo: In 1993, after buying a Spaulding and Rogers tattoo kit from the back of a tattoo magazine.
Favorite Portland restaurant: Toro Bravo.
Favorite food: “I love pasta, Italian food, and sauce. Anything with sauce on it. I like cream sauce or reduction sauces the most.”

Alice Kendall (left) and Tommy Habetz at Infinity Tattoo

Tommy Habetz’s tattoo of brook trout swimming through a heart by Alice Kendall

Tommy Habetz’s smoked trout salad with fried marcona almonds and fried onions

(left to right) Gabriel Rucker (Le Pigeon), John Eisenhart (Pazzo), Tommy Habetz (Bunk Sandwiches), and John Gorham (Toro Bravo) prepare the evening’s meal in Acadia’s kitchen.