Roundarch Summer Outing at Millennium Park (Part 2)


Tyler, Charlie, Brittany, Paul, Geoff, Megan.


Adam and Lee


Anandi and Dan.


Michelle


Mike and Ryan.


Tiger Mom!


Raf, Rob, Daniel


The Ella Fitzgerald Tribute at the Pritzker Pavilion.


Mike


Christine


Dan, Jacob, Anandi.


Jacob, Wa-Jiw, and Mike


Anandi


Paul and Brittany.


Rob and Aaron.


Rudy and friends.


Scott


Ryan and Aimee.

Some more photos from the Roundarch Isobar summer social event at Millennium Park. The party continued well into the night!

Roundarch Summer Outing at Millennium Park (Part 1)


Josh getting his first beer.


Reunited! Aimee, Anjum & Rachelle.


Josh and Brittany playing bags.


Some of the best iOS developers I know – Ty, Chris, Charlie


Adam and Michael


Adam and Dan.


Tony and Josh.


Alex, Adam, and Scott.


Andrew, Art, Ryan and Dayo.


Andrew


Mike, Charlie and Art doing the beer tasting.


Charlie Boo Boo.


Jacob, Josh, Wa-Jiw and Ben playing bags.


312 and Green Line were on tap.


Tyler


Lee


Stella and Linnea


Jacob and Ty.


Jeff


Greg.


Greg, take two.


Geoff playing bags, Ronald, Alex and Laura watching.


The Ella Fitzgerald tribute at Pritzker Pavilion.


Alex playing bags.


Raf playing bags.


Laura.

Last week Roundarch Isobar had a summer social event in the Goose Island beer garden tent in Millennium Park. There was an open bar adn catered appetizers and also a beer expert on hand to guide us through a tasting of four specialty Goose Island beers. The beer garden was just east of the Pritzker Pavilion where an Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Tribute was playing. Some people went to see the band up close, but most of us enjoyed the music from afar. The weather was perfect and we all had a great time beer tasting, listening to the music and just hanging out.

I have even more photos that I’ll share in another post.

Roundarch Summer Event 2011


Chopped Salad, Filet Mignon, Chicken Paillard, Quiche, Braised Brussels Sprouts, Pommes Puree, Macaroni Gratinee, Raspberry and Almond Tart, Dark Chocolate Mousse


Taylor


While the downstairs of the Paris Club was warm and cozy, the upstairs bar was very lounge-y and the outside area (covered in the cold) was very stark. All cool in their own way.


Garrett, Bill


More food! Chilled seafood bar: Lobster Tails, Shrimp Cocktail, Tuna Tartare, Crab Salad


Garrett, Geoff


Many giveaways! PS3, Slingbox, fancy headphones, a camera, Xbox Kinect, iPad, Google TV, sound dock, and a bunch of $100 gift cards


Tonya was a winner!


Craig’s turn to win!


Jeremy won the Google TV


Christine & Geoff pulling out more names.


Marlena had her eye on the prize.. and later on won the Xbox Kinect.


Wa-jiw, David, Ben, Nick


Mike, Adam


Passed hors d’oeuvres were pommes frites, mini burgers, deviled eggs with bacon and toasted cheese on brioche.

This past month marked my 3 year anniversary at Roundarch and this was my 4th Roundarch Summer Event. How is this possible? I went to the first event before I even started! (2010 Summer Event, 2009 Summer Event, 2008 Summer Event).

This year was a bit different than previous years in that it was smaller and it all took place in one day. Usually everyone from every other office – New York, Denver, Boston, and various other locations – flies into Chicago for a huge 2-day event. There would be practice meetings all day Thursday, a party all that night, and then the next day would be an all-day company meeting. This year we had two meetings on the same day – one in Chicago and one in New York. East Coast people flew into New York and others flew into Chicago. We had the meetings and the party all in one day. And it didn’t go late, which was good for me, because I had things I needed to get done that night!

Overall, it was still a great party. I didn’t win anything, but it was nice to hang out at the Paris Club and eat delicious food and spend time with my coworkers, not working. That’s not to say we didn’t have hours of meetings that day, but it was a good change of pace.

Roundarch Team Dinner at Prosecco

Last week we had a Roundarch team dinner at Prosecco, an Italian restaurant on the Near North Side. Prosecco has a huge selection of wine and one of the largest selections of Italian sparkling wine in Chicago.

I’d never been to Prosecco before and the menu online looked good, so I was excited to try this place. Upstairs the dining room was really pretty and brightly lit. Our private party was taking place downstairs in the private room/wine cellar.


Claire, Mark, Stella, Tony, Ryan, Adam, Marlena, Anjum


Wa-Jiw, Garrett, Bill, Ed, Doug


Ed, Doug

Before dinner we enjoyed some Italian wines, prosecco (of course), and Italian beer.


Claire, Bill, Tony, Adam, Anjum, Marlena

For dinner we were all seated at four tables. There were menus at the table and each course had several things listed.

Primi

  • Mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, carrots, red wine vinaigrette

Secondi

  • Rigatoni, pancetta, italian sausage, light tomato cream sauce
  • Risotto, sauteed beef tenderloin, diced tomatoes, fresh herbs, Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • Orecchiette, wild mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, black truffle cream, shaved Grana Padano, white truffle oil

Terzi

  • Sauteed monk fish medallions, sauteed spinach, lobster sauce drizzle
  • Scaloppine of pork, cremini mushrooms, Prosciutto di Parma, Marsala wine reduction
  • Balsamic-marinated chicken breast, basil-bread crumbs, portabello mushrooms, fresh mozarella, Dolcetto d’Alba reduction, asparagus
  • Grilled egplant, fresh and smoked mozarella, tomato sauce

Quarti

  • Baked apple tart, caramel drizzle
  • Chocolate flourless cake, crema inglese, mixed berry sauce
  • Peach gelato and lemon-basil sorbet

I thought we would be choosing what we wanted from each course, but it ended up that they served everything family style.


Josh, David


Andrew, David


Wa-Jiw


Ben, Andrew


David, Ed

At my table was Josh, David, Wa-Jiw, Ben, Andrew and another David.


Stella, Charlie, Mark, Kelly, Doug, Garrett


Adam, Tony, Bill, Claire, Marlena, Anjum


Adam, Sean, Ryan, Eric, Scott, Ashanth, Teal

At one point I went and took a photo of the other tables.

Back at our table, our candles were really melting down! I guess we’d been there a while.


Josh


Josh


Josh

For some reason people at our table were discussing the things that should never be discussed at work outings: Politics and Religion.


Mark, Tony, Teal

The big bosses said a few words of thanks and appreciation.

Oh, and a few behind the scenes photos from a secret team project taken earlier in the evening:

Shhhhhhh!

Mercadito


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.