Come Meat Your New CM Elite Event @ Espetus Churrascaria

Classy, Swanky ,Decadent and Just Plain Awesome are words that I would use to describe our New CM Abby S 1st official Silicon Valley event. She came to us from St Louis where she was there CM. Their loss is definitely our gain.

Espetus Churrascaria is a High End Brazilian Steak House I was quite excited about this event . I had never been to a Brazilian Steak House and had always wanted to go to one. This is one thing I love about Elite events .
They expose you to things you might not see or do normally. Its really amazing what our fine team of Bay Area Cm's can expose us to, in this case the lovely Abby S.

Espetus rolled out the red carpet for us Elites by sectioning off the restaurant and creating a special Yelp Elite area and setting up a Buffet table of amazing platters of Meats- Beef , Lamb ,Chicken and Pork and Breads and keeping it well stocked thru most of the night.

In the same area Party Booths Digital Photo Booth Rentals were setup and had a ton of props that you could use to take a series of 4 pictures.
We all know Elites love to take pictures . I had a ball with this I got to take photos with some of the SBC posse, the lovely ladies of Yelp -Tiffany ,Abby and Monica who are all extremely Photogenic.

Espetus also had a Mixologist mixing Caipirinha -Brazilian Rum with a Lime Mix.

Fortino Winery also had a table and was serving Wines for Tasting . I enjoyed the 2005 Sangiovese and the Maribella . The folks running the table were very nice.

Bebe Cakes had a nice assortment of Mini Cupcakes like Red Velvet, Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Chip.

I also enjoy the Trio Band they had in a Corner playing mood music very nice.

I think it was a very well planned event Abby is definitely starting off on the right foot and I cant wait to see what she has in store for us Elites.

Plus Abby's Yelp support staff the Lovely Ladies Of Yelp Tiffany,Jessica and Monica holding down the Fort.

Thanks Yelp ,Abby ,Tiffany ,Jessica ,Monica, Espetus ,Party Booths,Fortino Winery,Bebe Cakes for a great time in a very classy place.

Always nice to see the SBC posse.

Year Of The Rabbit , Total Bunny Global Domination

Okay I don't get why any of the reviews are less than 5 stars? I know Yelpers are honest but Yelp Eliters should just appreciate being able to come out, meet new people, have a great time and get free drinks and food. Can't be picky ya'll. :)

Maybe I'm too- see the positive in a great situation. I feel totally lucky to be part of the SV Elite Squad two years in a row now.

Thank you to Espetus Churrascaria of Santa Mateo, Partybooths.com, Bebecakes Cupcakes in Palo Alto, Yummy Brazilian Mojitos, Event Rental company, and Winery for a great time last night.

Welcome Abby S! Bay Area welcomes you with open arms and your first event of the year was a smash hit!

Thanks to Jessica T. and any other Yelp staff that helped facilitate this event as well.

I love events where there are a bunch of different stations and things to do- my exclusive plus 1 Anthony and I hit up food first- a lot of great things to try out including steak, chicken, cheesy break, fried banana, fried corn bread thing, and other fried products. Definitely yummy so that we'll come back and try to have dinner here for sure. Gotta love that Brazilian bbq.

After that tried mini cupcakes from Bebe in Palo Alto and so perfect that they were mini! Tried the Vanilla and the boyfriend had the chocolate.

Grabbed some red wine and the really sweet/more lime flavored Mojito then went off to the Photobooth.com

Never tried this photobooth before but it was really spacious booth- no lines, fun props, and was printed quickly.

Hello to my fellow veteran and new Yelpers that I met and saw- Cece, Denis, Badri, Chuck, Shirley, Ling, Karen, Hannah, Bobby, Mikey, Allie, Chris, Jason, and anyone else that I may have chatted up with!

Here's to a great year of events and good times!

Welcome Abby! Thank you to her and other people who organized this event!

I've never had Brazilian food before and this was my chance to try some out. My friend (and yelper) Jaime L. and I arrived around 6:15pm because I was picky about the parking. lol I was trying to park super close but the closest was like a block or so. =P

I went to the food line and from the pictures I took, you can see that a lot of the food was almost gone. I didn't get a better picture of the food until later in the night where I took a couple. They did come to "refill" the food but I guess I missed those times when they did. There were no name tags of the food so I didn't know what I was eating; however, they tasted pretty good (especially the meat). There were cupcakes and three different red wines from Fortino Winery.

There was a photo booth from PartyBooths at the event, too. I was surprised there was hardly a line for it but I think it was because the line for the food blocked the photo booth. lol

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures like I usually do but I guess that's fine. I'll upload the original-sized pictures to my Flickr.... that is when they get uploaded since I don't have cable anymore. DSL is slow to upload! X_X

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dnhu827/sets/72157625743164449/


Welcome again Abby, our new Yelp Silicon Valley Community Manager!!!

What a great first elite event for the new CM of Silicon Valley, Abby! Kudos to Abby, Jessica, Tiffany, and Monica for a digalicious and meaty* event in good ole' San Mateo!

I'm a girl who totally loves her meat, and was so excited to check out Espetus Churrascaria. My +1, a friend since I've known since 1st grade, and a newbie to Yelp events, and what a great first introduction.

Highlights:
- Fortino wines: Wonderful selection, and super friendly staffers.

- Caipirinhas: Got the memo and wore green to match one of the featured drinks for the evening. So matchymatchersons! Ha! That bartender was so awesome and worked hard, especially with the neverending line.

- Bebecakes: Friendly ladies serving up these bite size cuppies. My favs were the Miss Scarlet (red velvet with cream cheese frosting) and the What's Up Doc (carrot cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting).

- Food: Tender MEAT! Oh Mylanta!! I'm such a carnivore, the breads (tiny warm brioche) were divine, and what I thought was fried cheese was actually plantains! Digaliciousness!

- Location and service. Such a wonderful restaurant and the servers were efficient when it came to passing around the food and clearing the plates and glasses.

Great to see my SBCers and a few from SF and East Bay, too! Y'all know who you are. Always good times with you lovelies!

Thanks again for such an awesome Meaty event, Abby! Can't wait to see what else you have in store for us Yelpers. I know STL misses you, but the SV and the Bay Area welcomes you with open arms! Though, I do miss the Ted Drewes and Pasta House. Anywho, keep em coming, girlie!

Cheers!

Bacon wrapped anything is just DIVINE! Mmmmmmm I've never eaten so much meat in my life! hahaha

* Fortino Winery- Sad that they didn't have their famous almond champagne! But I liked their Marabella wine!!

* Caipirinhas- mmmmmojitos!

* Meats from Espetus- keep 'em coming! Small bites of meats and pastry puff goodness were all delicious!!!

* Bebecakes- mini red velvet cupcakes!

Welcome Abby S., the new SVCM, to the South Bay!! It was great "meat"-ing you!!!! I hope you can handle us this year!! Thank you Abby, Yelp, Espetus, Fortino, and The Photobooth for making the event super fun!!

Hellos to: Grace L., Adam, Vicky T., Linda L., Terre P., Julie K., Bobby L., Dennis O., Anya R., Gill C., Badri N., Hannah C., Chuck N., Cindy C., Dave K., and all the yelpers!!


YEE #2 and counting for 2011 :D

As far as getting to be a nerd and introduce myself to Abby as "I'm the girl from Indiana who gave you advice about ordering rice in CA" ? - 5 stars!

Jessica is always so cute when we check in too! She totally sets the mood everytime. I was still processing the atmosphere and saying hello to peeps we knew at the door as Jessica quickly rattled off something about cupcakes, food, cash bar, and Photobooth in the back. She's great! All said with a smile! I laugh inside everytime because I know she has said that hundreds of times with that same perky smile by the time she says it to us. It's like her first time everytime. God love her!

We were late this time, so we didn't get to experience all the SWAG items in the beginning ~ but we DID manage to try some magical fried plantain goodness, a Fortino Winery Flight, and a plate of the MEATs & puffs in the back. I liked the polenta sticks even though they kinda creeped Zak out. haha

It's always great to see all the REAL people who's reviews always steer me in the right direction. You are my favorite part of the events! Next time Jeremy M, Terre P, and maybe a couple others need to make it in the photobooth together! I would say Elaine L, but we'd have to fight over who gets to wear the HORNS! ;)

and... I KNEW we should have hopped inside the Yuppie Bar across the street for a nightcap that night. We were so tempted. I'll go next time we are in San Mateo for sure. A bar with conference tables and office chairs? awesome.

Fantastic night with Abby! Way to kick off a New Year with a New CM!

Thanks to Yelp and Abby for putting on an awesome first event of 2011, especially since Abby is new!

I arrived here a little late and had some issues with parking, but all was well when I walked in and was warmly greeted by Jessica who immediatetly informed us of the food and drinks situation at Espetus and checked us in right away.

The Yelp crew was working hard all night long and even made sure that everyone was able to try out the yummy Brazilian rum drinks and keeping the line down by offering it at the bar as well. This was an awesome move by the Yelp team to diffuse the crowds that were slowly taking over one side of Espetus.

The cupcakes were awesome, the vendors were courteous and extremely friendly and I had a great conversation with Bebecakes owner(s) about their inspiration for one of the best red velvets I've had in a long time. I highly recommend this place if you plan on getting red velvet because theirs is so velvetly smooth, creamy, moist and everything blends together so well!

The food was top notch as it kept coming even though the event ran for the full two hours. The servers were great and the clean up was quick. Thanks Yelp and Espetus for hosting a fantastic YEE event!

Thanks Abby, Jessica, Yelp, and Espetus for another great Elite event!!

Jessica did a great job checking us in by giving us name tags while a line formed outside Espetus. I liked how we can just walk in once the event started, too.

I noticed there was a cocktail booth, a wine booth, and a cupcake booth. I went straight to the cupcakes, and I got to try the chocolate mini cupcake. It was really tasty and very moist!

It was really nice meeting Abby, our new CM, too. Abby did a great job organizing her first Silicon Valley event!

While we were all mingling at the triangular tables, the Espetus servers started to bring out some fried foods (fried fish, fried beef, and fried chicken). I got to try the fried chicken which was good. It tasted like the outside layer was made with potatoes.

Later on, I noticed a line was forming in the private dining room, so we got in line to get some food. I noticed there wasn't that much food provided at the buffet table. There was bacon wrapped chicken, pork, and sausage. A few minutes after getting our food, another platter of red meats came out! I was a bit disappointed that all the food wasn't provided at the same time. When me and my friends got back in line to try the red meat, the red meats was all gone by the time we got to the middle of the line.

I really enjoyed the photo booth. The lady was really nice, and she did a great job getting elites to take pics while they were in the food line. It was super fast to take the pics, and there was never a line. I guess not a lot of elites took advantage of it.

Overall, I had a great time at this Yelp elite event! Thanks again!!

Santa Cruz made it to San Mateo...

ABBY WELCOME!! You have inherited a huge family of crazies!!

First event of 2011 was not too shabby:
There was no wait for the photobooth
They were still in happy hour and accommodate well when we first got there
Plenty of food (the ratio of food to food vultures was in favor of food)
Live music was enjoyable
It was good to see folks.. some peeps I had not seen in a while!!

The food:
The stars for me were their fried polenta, cheese puff like pastry and the fried plantains.
Bebe's cuppies were super cute and tasty!

Abby sure was one cool cat.

What was the first thing I did when I walked in? Grabbed a drink! The caipirinhas were super good! I downed that thing like no other so I could have my hands free to get to the meat! Being a meat lover, this was the perfect event! They kept bringing out garlic chicken, bacon wrapped chicken, sausages, and cheese bread. And on top of that, fried falafel type meats, fried bananas, and the occasional red meat. If only they had more of the red meat! But I still filled up nonetheless, my favorite being the garlic chicken (the bacon wrapped was a close second).

Big ups to Abby for introducing herself to us and others, and looking forward to more events with her!