Celebrating Birthdays at Estrella Negra

estrella_negra_menu

Estrella Negra is located almost exactly one mile from our house and for some reason, we have not been there in the 5 years we’ve lived here. We’ve driven past it a million times, but never have gone in. Until last night. Brian and Mike picked it as a place to celebrate their birthdays. Brian’s birthday was earlier this week and Mike’s is next week (on my due date!).

estrella_negra_empanadas_sampler

I liked this place. The Dia de los Muertos decor was really unique and I liked that they had some things on the menu that were unique to the other local taquerias we frequent. Dallas and I shared an empanada sampler for an appetizer. There were three – goat cheese jalapeno, spinach and artichoke, and chorizo with corn. These were dressed up and a little fancy (compared to something like the empanadas at El Nandu), but we really liked them.

estrella_negra_el_diablito_camarones

Dallas also had to try an appetizer called El Diablito Camarones, which was
“nine plutonium-grade spicy grilled shrimp balanced over the edge of a martini glass. No wimps allowed.” Actually, though, everyone said they weren’t really hot at all.

estrella_negra_tamales

For his meal, Dallas got the ceviche tostadas. I had a few bites and it was really light and fresh tasting. For my entree I got the tamales, which is a house specialty, and something you can’t usually get at a lot of taquerias (along with empanadas and ceviche, too!). I got one of each of the three tamales available: 1. Cheese (parmesan, romano, & muenster) spinach and artichoke stuffed tamales, topped with salsa verde, muenster cheese, chives, tomatoes and sour cream, 2. Fresh corn kernel tamales topped with the elote man’s favorite toppings: parmesan cheese, mayo, butter and chili, and 3. traditional spicy pork tamales, topped with salsa verde, muenster cheese, chives, tomatoes and sour cream. That’s the order they were listed on the menu and probably the order that I liked them too! I know spinach and artichoke is not traditional in a tamale, but it was soooo good.

estrella_negra_bean_dip

Oh, and for my side I got the house-made bean dip, which was served in a little tortilla cup and garnished with a tortilla star. Loved it.

estrella_negra_dallas

We didn’t try dessert, although my coworker Karen said it is good. I baked cookies earlier in the day and gifted them to Brian and Mike for their birthdays and everyone enjoyed them as a sweet treat afterwards. Some at Estrella Negra and some at Quenchers and The Beetle, where people headed afterwards, when I headed home.

estrella_negra

Overall, Dallas and I liked Estrella Negra. I think we’d go back, given its so close to our house too. When we were there for the birthdays, the kitchen seemed to have a bit of a hard time keeping up, but we had 17 (Me, Dallas, Rita, JP, Kelly, Todd, Sara, Brian, Christine, Adam, Vanessa, Damien, Arun, Mike, Todd, Marty, Larry!!) people in our party and it was pretty much like trying to deliver food to half of the entire restaurant all at once. The tables around us seemed to have more consistent food coming out. Also, I really liked our waitress, who was super personable to Dallas and I, since we were the first ones to arrive. Oh, and Estrella Negra is BYOB, so everyone brought their own wine and beer and it helped keep the cost down.

estrella_negra_birthday

Fun night. Maybe the last night I’ll see these guys for a while?

Google Summer Picnic

Alden
Alden, Grant Park, Chicago

Arun
Arun, Grant Park, Chicago

Jeff
Jeff, Grant Park, Chicago

Joe & Jeff
Joe & Jeff, Grant Park, Chicago

Rachelle
Rachelle, Grant Park, Chicago

Justin
Justin, Grant Park, Chicago

Charlie
Charley, Grant Park, Chicago

Jake
Jake Got a Hole in One, Grant Park, Chicago

Kids Golf Green
Green Obstacles, Grant Park, Chicago

Google Schwag
Schwag, Grant Park, Chicago

Yesterday was Google Chicago’s summer picnic at The Green at Grant Park. There was lots of food and drinks and mini golf. Pretty much everyone sucked at mini golf, but part of the reason was that there were tons of kids running all around grabbing balls and stuff. Yeh, that’s my excuse. I played a game with Dick and Jessica and I think I came in last. It is a really tough course. No edges, so the ball rolls into flowerbeds and onto the next green and everywhere.

Ping Pong Tournament


Killerspin Table


Jon & Alden Warming Up


Arun


Justin


Arun


Joe, Jessie, Justin


Ed


Jon & Jessie


Paul, Arun, John, Matt, Joe, Jessica, Jon


Eric & Steve


Dick


Jessie


Eric & John


Alden, Arun, Paul


Jessica


Paul


Eric


Jessie & Jon


Final Match: Arun vs. Eric


Brackets

We have a ping pong table at work and a lot of people play, so last week we had a tournament. It took forever to work around people’s .. uh.. actual work and meetings. Pretty much we had the brackets up and whenever you and your opponent had a free ten minutes, you went and played quick. In the end Eric L. was victorious.

Dining Alfresco at La Bottega

La Bottega
La Bottega, Chelsea, Manhattan

Ravioli @ La Bottega
Funghi Ravioli – Mushrooms, Parmesan, Truffle Oil :: La Bottega, Chelsea, Manhattan

Lychee Martini @ La Bottega
Lychee Martini :: La Bottega, Chelsea, Manhattan

Jeff @ La Bottega
Jeff Eating Pizza NY Style :: La Bottega, Chelsea, Manhattan

Joe & Arun @ La Botegga
Joe & Arun :: La Bottega, Chelsea, Manhattan

Rachelle @ La Bottega
Rachelle :: La Bottega, Chelsea, Manhattan

La Bottega
View From My Room :: La Bottega, Chelsea, Manhattan

It turns out that The Maritime Hotel‘s bar and restaurant, La Bottega, is quite a happening spot. Girls come through here dressed like they’re going clubbing and there have been some celebrity sightings too. We didn’t see any on Friday night when all of these photos were taken, but last night I met up with John and his friend Emily for a drink at the hotel bar and they bumped into Isaiah Washington, that guy who made the ruckus on Grey’s Anatomy when he made homophobic remarks to his gay co-actor. Then while we were getting drinks she spotted Josh Pais, who played “The Modelizer” on a Sex & the City episode, and Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live.

Anyway, these photos were taken on Friday night after we got back from the airport and settled into our hotel. La Bottega has a great big huge patio area with umbrella’d tables that makes it really nice to eat and drink outdoors, so that’s exactly what we did.

FeedBurner Family Photo

2007_05_feedburner.jpg
paulbaker, Eric, Alden, Jon, jz, Adil, Matt, Rachelle, Joe, Steve, Chris, JoeNathan, Justin, Arun

Yesterday it was Adil’s birthday. Chris asked him what he wanted and he said he wanted and he said he wanted a photograph with the FeedBurner group. So we gathered whoever was left in the office and took a photo. Happy birthday, Adil!

When Do You Want Your Email, Stalker!?

At FeedBurner we just completed a project where Matt, Chris, Arun and I did enhancements to our email service. One of the new features is the ability to schedule the delivery times on emails. So, to all of my 10 email subscribers, what time do you like to read your emails? In the morning? Around lunch? At night? Vote in the comments.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, FeedBurner has this cool service where you can have people sign up to recieve your site/feed content daily via email. If you’d like to have rachelleb.com updates delivered to your inbox, sign up near the bottom of the right-hand column.