Getting a tattoo can be a long and difficult process. You have to come with an idea, get someone to mock it up, and then find just the right tattoo artist to make your vision come to life. Or, you can get blindingly drunk and pick the feather that turns into birds at the end out of the grubby book at the counter. Either way, once your skin has healed you can spend the rest of your life with a new nagging voice in the back of head telling you your tattoo is cheesy. Unless, ya know, that was your intention all along.
One Cleveland-based grilled cheese purveyor has decided that everyone should get inked in the name of cheese, and they’re willing to help you out a little bit. Melt Bar & Grilled, a restaurant chain dedicated to all things grilled cheese, has a deal for cheeseheads who decide to make their curd-love affair more permanent: 25% your order for life. You get to enjoy President’s Day levels of savings every day for the rest of your dairy-filled life for the low, low price of one tattoo! Melt describes itself on its website as “slightly kitschy,” and seems happy to remain so. They also offer a bar’s worth of beers—however they’re quick to point out that they don’t serve traditional bar food, just grilled cheeses in all makes and models.
Their gimmick seems to have worked, however, as more than 500 people have taken the leap and gotten themselves tatted in the name of grilled cheese. Some of the works feature nothing more than the Melt logo, a grilled-cheese-and-bones insignia, and sometimes the words, “25% off for life,” while others run the gooey gamut from interesting to beautiful to absurd.
Many of the zanier tattoos show beloved pop-culture, sci-fi, and video game figures all rallying around the cheese, and some of them are downright hilarious. So if you live in Cleveland and want the grilled cheese connect, look no farther than your local tattoo artist. If you need inspiration you can check out all the designs here, but if that sounds like a lot of work we’ve picked out some of the best ones for you to enjoy below. If you’re feeling extra crazy, get a tattoo of the culture logo and send it us for a chance to win… nothing. But it would be funny and we’d give you a golf-clap from the office!
First we’ve got baby Cheesus:
Then there’s the Grilluminati:
If you grew up with Pokemon I present to you Pikacheese:
Maybe you’re a movie buff who loves the Grilledfather:
Ok, I’m punned out, but here’s a good one of Batman:
…and R2D2:
If any of these called out to you, don’t hesitate to get it done today, because we all know tattoos are great impulse decisions! If distance is a limiting factor, keep in mind that some patrons drive up to 200 miles for that crispy, crunchy discount.
All photos courtesy Melt Bar & Grilled
Brook O'Meara-Sayen
Brook O’Meara-Sayen is a journalism student at Emerson College forever on the hunt for that last ten minutes of sleep. In his spare time he enjoys reading, Merle Haggard, and spending Friday evenings trying to break his personal record for most cheddar eaten in one sitting.
