It took six people two months to accomplish it.
Six.
“When we were reopening back in February, one of our employees at the time created this illustration of a rat wearing wings that’s drinking a beer for our reopening party,” said Maggie Flynn, The Sil’s vice president of marketing. The rat has become the cocktail lounge’s unofficial logo — and the key to a free hot dog every day for the rest of one’s life (or as long as the bar endures).
“What happened was this woman got it tattooed on her arm, and when I saw that over the summer, I was like, ‘We have to do some promotion around this,’” Flynn said.
The bar had recently introduced its “Sil dogs” menu, which features all-beef franks with condiments for $1-$3.50 each, depending on the day and time.
“They were selling like crazy, and we thought we’d take it to the next level,” Flynn said.
Anyone who is able to get a Real tattoo of The Sil’s unofficial logo, or any of its branding, is in the club.
Blair Hu, 22, was a 22-year-old grad student at Boston College. He was the first person to get the needle for free hot dogs.
“I have a whole little tattoo zoo of other animals doing silly things, so this was right up my alley,” Hu told The Globe. “When the opportunity (hot dogs) came knocking (I saw a TikTok about it when I woke up), I had no choice but to answer.”
Danny Reis, an artist at Ghost in the Machine in Brighton, inked Hu.
Blair Hu’s Silhouette Lounge-inspired TattooCourtesy Blair HuJolie Frazer-Madge (24) also opted into the program.
“This is my fourth tattoo and my second one inspired by Allston,” Frazer-Madge said, adding that she’s lived in the neighborhood as a post-grad for about three years. “I love how the neighborhood has a such a specific vibe and culture.”
Frazer-Madge said she got the ink as an homage to the city she loves: “The free hot dogs are an added bonus, of course,” she said.
Kavi Kaushik, a local hand-poke tattoo artist (also known as stick-and-poke, when the artist fills a needle with ink and then pokes tiny dots into the skin), is the artist behind Frazer-Madge’s ink.
Jolie Frazer MacMadge’s Sil Tattoo when she got it.Courtesy Jolie Frazer-Madge“I’ve only been to The Sil a handful of times, but I live super close and plan on going there more often to take advantage of the free hot dogs, for sure,” Frazer-Madge said.
Flynn explained that the cocktail lounge aims to interact with its community.
“The fact that people are putting permanent ink of our bar is incredible,” Flynn said. “Allston is a very artsy community, and who doesn’t love hot dogs?”
Brittany Bowker is available at [email protected]. Follow her Twitter @brittbowker Instagram @brittbowker.