Amanda Linton, the Tattoo Queen From House of Sweets Bakery, Dishes on Her 'Tats

Photos by C. Stiles

​This week's cover story in New Times is a photo essay on local chefs and restaurant workers with tattoos. We fit a few of the photos in the print edition, but you can find many more in this slideshow.

There's also more to the interviews, which were pared down for print. We'll publish a few of them this week. Below is the full question-and-answer with Amanda Linton, co-owner of House of Sweets Bakery in Delray Beach -- and the beauty who graces this week's New Times cover.

New Times: When did you get your first tattoo?

Amanda Linton: I got my very first tattoo in Vegas when I was 18. It was a Kanji that
​meant "artist/creative." I don't really remember anyone I knew being tattooed at the time, and I was the only one who got tattooed on that trip. When doing my sleeve, I didn't want to cover it up, so now it's in the belly of my panda.

NT: What's your favorite?

Linton: That's a tough one! Usually my favorite is the last tattoo I've had done. I really love the cupcake on the back of my calf. I wanted it to look exactly like one of my favorite pictures of a cupcake I baked. I call it my "cupcake portrait." So far, my husband, J.R. Linton of Hellcat Tattoo in West Palm Beach, has done all of my recent tattoos, so that makes me love them all a little more than the others.

NT: Do you have any cooking-related tattoos? If so, what are they? If not, how come?

​Linton: I have two cupcake tattoos so far. Being a baker and a little cupcake-obsessed, I think of a new cupcake design every other day. I have a spatula with icing about to drip off and the word Sugar on my wrist. I also have the words Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice in a banner.

NT: Why are there so many tattoos among chefs? What do you think it says about the restaurant business?

Linton: Chefs and bakers are artists, and I think being an artist, you are always trying to make things look better or different. Tattoos are another way to do just that. Maybe it's more acceptable to be tattooed in the culinary world because you're usually hiding out in the kitchen anyway, so it doesn't matter what you look like as long as you can make things taste amazing!