Spilled Ink: Brooklyn Bartenders Talk About Their Tattoos
Carissa
The Trash Bar, Williamsburg
So which would you say is your favorite?
This new one [applies ointment]. I just got it. Can you read it? It says, “Let Them Eat Cake.”
What inspired that?
Besides bartending, I’m a cake decorator and a baker. This [points to tattoo on forearm] is an exact replica of the KitchenAid mixer I use, right down to the color. [The tattoo artist] nailed it to a tee. And Marie Antoinette, I think she had a skewed view on things — she had a little bit of an edge to her.
What about the row of flowers above the new one?
That’s the only one not cake-related. I’m from Chicago, and right next to the Art Institute there’s this plaza — it’s not really a park, but just a place to sit — with this giant canopy of flowers up above that covers the area. I used to have two jobs nearby and would have about two hours that I wasn’t bartending. I’d just sit and relax there. It’s right in the middle of the city surrounded by all these skyscrapers, but you don’t even feel like you’re in a city at all. When you look up, you literally can’t see the sky because of all the flowers.