Food Ink: Chad Clevenger's French chicken

Chad Clevenger's chicken French chicken

As part of an upcoming photo essay project spotlighting Denver restaurant pros whose tatts are as prevalent as their dissections, burns, blisters, knife slashes and stabs, we promised that we'd post some of the best ink on the Cafe Society blog.

We've already exposed the tatts of Matt Selby, executive chef of Steuben's and Vesta Dipping Grill, and Brandon Biedermann, chef de cuisine of Steuben's. Today, we present you with the chicken tattoo from Chad Clevenger, exec chef/owner of Mel's Bar and Grill. "It's a blue-footed Bresse chicken that's very fatty and tasty," says Clevenger, who sports the tattoo on his inner right calf. "I wanted the chicken because it's unique to France, which is where I cooked a lot of those chickens," plus, he adds, "I can joke about having a cock that hangs below my knee."

On that note, if you're a restaurant employee with good ink, send photos of your tatts (and the stories behind them) to cafe@westword.com.