Entries Tagged as 'de cero'

Mercadito

October 5th, 2010 · No Comments


Mercadito, River North, Chicago

I went to Mercadito for a new employee lunch a couple months ago. I was interested in trying it because they do fancy tacos, kind of like De Cero, and I love De Cero.


David & Wa-Jiw

The interior was really interesting, a bit on the fancy side. You can see these cool lights behind my coworkers David and Wa-Jiw’s heads.


Guacamole & Taco Platters, Mercadito, River North, Chicago

To eat we all shared a bunch of plates. We had a flight of 3 different guacamoles and a flight of a few different salsas with chips to begin. We had a few sides like rice and beans. And then we all shared several trays of tacos. Mercadito has about 8 different kinds of tacos, but the thing that I didn’t like was that you couldn’t mix and match. For $10.50 you could get 3 tacos, but they had to all be the same. That was kind of a bummer. We ended up just ordering plates of 3 of all different kinds and sharing, but if I came in with a smaller group, there’d be no way to try as many tacos as we did.

I like the fancy tacos at De Cero a bit better… and De Cero lets you mix it up however you want. I also prefer the rustic interior of De Cero more than the slick look of Mercadito. Still, not a bad place.. and it’s super close to my office, so I’ll probably be back.

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De Cero Lunch

January 28th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Tacos, De Cero, ChicagoOlivia and I met up for the second lunch in our Monthly Lunch Club. Last month we went to Blackbird. This month we went to De Cero. I love De Cero so much. All I have ever gotten there is a la carte tacos. The tacos are delicious but De Cero also has a lot of sentimental value to me because when I worked at FeedBurner we used to go to De Cero for every occasion. It was appropriate that we also had our FeedBurner reunion there over the summer, which was the last time I was at the restaurant. I was due for a visit. Olivia had never been to De Cero. Hopefully she enjoyed it as much as I do.

Pictured above from back to front above, I had:

  • al pastor, tender chile seared pork with onion, pineapple, cilantro and lime (great spicy/sweet combo)
  • avocado, with white onion, roasted garlic, cilantro, and crema (least best this time, it was cold and the onions very raw)
  • vegetarian black beans, with garlic, avocado, cilantro, and crema (a favorite taco)

Not pictured, Olivia had:

  • rajas, hot and mild roasted peppers, potatoes, cream, and cotija queso
  • braised duck, with sweet corn salsa
  • tilapia, special taco of the day

It’s nice that Olivia and I are seeing each other more regularly now and that the time doesn’t slip by and we say “oh, we should hang out” and then never do. I’m having fun trying these restaurants and getting to know her better. One by one we plan to meet monthly and peck off these higher-end restaurants that may be too pricey for dinner, but are affordable for lunch. For next month we talked about maybe going to Bayless’ place. Anyone have any other suggestions?

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FeedBurner Reunion

June 30th, 2008 · No Comments


Adil, Tom, Alden, Traci, Eric L., Eric O., Charley, Jessie, Giuliana, Paul Baker, Chris, Joe, Jon


Chris wore his FeedBurner bike hat for the special occasion.

Sorry, everyone! I forgot to post these photos that I promised I’d post weeks ago. The night before Dallas and I left for Connecticut, I went to a FeedBurner reunion party at De Cero. About 13 of us made it out. We expected more, but it was a busy week for many people. A lot of people who were there I’d seen often at the Google office. Others, I hadn’t seen for a long time, more than a year. Enough time for Adil to have a baby even! As per the FeedBurner tradition, we ordered a ton of guacamole and platters of assorted tacos. It was a fun time and something we’ll have to repeat.

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That Went Downhill Fast

May 25th, 2008 · 3 Comments

One night last week Alden and Justin and I decided to go out for a nice nostalgic dinner at De Cero. When we worked at FeedBurner in the West Loop, we’d always go to De Cero when new people were hired or anytime we wanted to go for a nice lunch.

Justin was in town for the first time since he moved to San Francisco so we caught up a lot on what’s been happening since he left. It was a good time, but 2 pitchers of margaritas and 4 shots each of Petron Silver later and we were at the cheesiest bar ever singing karaoke!

Also, fyi, if you’ve never actually paid for anything at De Cero, like us because we were always there for work functions, it’s really expensive! Like really expensive. Like $35 for one pitcher of margaritas and more than $10 per shot. I’m surprised that I wasn’t shocked sober when we got the bill. Instead I just ordered The Pain Killer at the next bar and told them to make it strong.


Trader Todd’s, Lakeview, Chicago


Singing the Humpty Dance with Alden. I thought that waving my hands in the air like I just didn’t care would get the crowd worked up. Something tells me it did not.


I was really excited to sing What I Got by Sublime.

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De Cero

April 12th, 2007 · No Comments

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De Cero on April 11, 2007 :: West Loop, Chicago

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FeedBurner Staff at De Cero on November 9, 2006 :: West Loop, Chicago

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De Cero Tacos on July 19, 2006 :: West Loop, Chicago

The FeedBurner office is located in the West Loop, which is cool, but sometimes difficult. It’s on Randolph which is where the fancy restaurant row is – think Avec, Blackbird, Meji, Starfish, Marche, etc. And then on the opposite end, there’s the train station just about right across the street which offers restaurants like Taco Bell and McDonald’s and Popeye’s. Sometimes it’s hard to find a happy medium.

One place that is our “go to” spot for an kind of celebratory lunches is De Cero. It’s a short walk, the atmosphere is really cool, and the food is great. I love the ala cart taco menu. When we have FeedBurner lunches we usually just preorder platters of tacos, but I’ve been there a few times, not in a big group, where each person just ordered 3-4 tacos. It’s fun trying the different combinations. My favorites are:

  • vegetarian black beans, with garlic, avocado, cilantro, and crema
  • battered shrimp, with cilantro, and avocado crema
  • beef tenderloin tips, braised with mushrooms, tomatoes, and cilantro
  • tres queso, with roasted poblano pepper
  • ahi tuna, grilled medium rare, mango and habanero salsa

The only complaints I have are that sometimes the service can be slow, even if you call ahead and preorder. And also, the chips and salsa are not free and have to be ordered like an appetizer. Yesterday I was at De Cero with Greg and we got the guacamole instead of salsa and I noticed on the bill a 25 cent charge for tortillas? Was that our chips? We weren’t sure, but didn’t want to go through the effort of asking when it was only a quarter. Still, the quality of the food here really outweighs any complaints I have. I love it!

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