It’s quiet in Seattle cause everyone is at Noise Pop! Here’s some pics from the festival in San Francisco. Looks like the team is doing their best to plaster the town in Whrrl stickers and buttons. Such a hard life working for Pelago!

Whrrl Swag at the Rickshaw Stop:

Sharing a drink before hitting the streets:

Esther, Danielle, and Emily:

T-Minus the rest of the day and a two-hour flight until Whrrl touches down in San Francisco for Noise Pop 2008! This year we’re the official web and mobile sponsor for San Francisco’s biggest music festival.

Along with our crew of over-caffeinated Whrrlers, we’re bringing to San Francisco prizes, cool swag, and a great SMS experience specifically designed for Noise Pop. The last few weeks we’ve been putting in long hours to pull this all together (can you see the hard work?) and everyone is super excited for Tuesday and Mika Miko’s kick off performance at Rickshaw Stop.

If you can make it, keep your eyes open for us as we’ll be giving out free stuff at the venues. If you can’t, you can at least see pictures of us having fun on this blog.

What happens when Union Restaurant in downtown Seattle puts on a gumbo charity cook-off contest for professional chefs and invites co-creator of Whrrl, Darren Vengroff, to participate? He makes amazing gumbo and wins, that’s what happens.

Sunday, January 13th was the day when six Seattle chefs and two ‘civilian cooks’, including Darren, took to their kitchens to muster up the best of Louisiana cooking for a blind taste competition at Union to benefit Northwest Harvest. Competition was as potent as the gumbo as spectator-judges indulged in a feast of all you can eat gumbo, rice, and tap beer in an effort to decide whose secret recipe was the best in the city. The competition wasn’t the only thing that stood out on Sunday though, “The technique and camaraderie among the chefs were incredible” Darren said, “it was great to have some cayenne advice and hear a story about butchering a 200lb hog with nothing but a carving knife and hacksaw”. At the end of the day when the gumbo was gone, stomachs were full, and the votes were cast; Darren emerged triumphant with the very unofficial title of ‘Gumbo King’.

When he’s not helping develop what could be the most useful social discovery tool ever, Darren apparently spent a lot of personal time perfecting the most delicious gumbo in Seattle, though he’s quick to give due praise to the chefs who “day in and day out, cook circles around anything I can do”.

Great job Darren, we’re proud of you!

Welcome to our blog, a place for the Whrrl family to share what’s new in our Whrrld! Here’s a quick recap of life at Whrrl so far:

We officially launched in 10 cities in October 2007. Our launch was a great success and we haven’t looked back since! From day one, we’ve set out to become the place for social discovery and help people answer the question “Where should we go for dinner?” In November 2007 we teamed up with American Eagle for a promotional campaign. We introduced Whrrl to 2.5 million of American Eagle’s All Access Pass users.

Since then we’ve continued to add content at a rapid rate. We’ve also expanded restaurant information to include services and shopping venues as well. Next up, Events! That’s right, soon we will be adding concerts, shows, rallies, readings, carnivals, circuses any kind of event you can think of. Just one more way Whrrl helps you manage your social life.

Check back often for blog updates. And if you haven’t already, go to Whrrl and rate a place, schedule a get together, or invite a friend.