The Browser checked out Google's new 300,000 square foot HQ in Manhattan's chic Chelsea neighborhood yesterday. The quick take? Think Port Authority (NYC's main bus terminal) meets lava lamp with an open bar.

The occasion for our visit was NY Tech Meetup, the increasingly buzz-worthy monthly event that Meetup.com CEO Scott Heiferman started two years ago. It was a sellout crowd (250 spots at $5 apiece), despite potential competition from the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco and, of course, any number of post-election celebrations in Democrat-oozing Manhattan. The NY Tech Meetup drill: Heiferman gives five presenters five minutes each to pitch their tech-related company or product. (Last night's contestants included author Allison Fine, Jennifer Houser of Motionbox, Jane Boone of Prosper.com, Google engineer Joel Webber, and a self-described "brain machine interface" researcher who pitched his "RoboRat.") Afterwards, a sea of scruffy techies mingled with gray hairs in pin stripes. Heiferman - the Phil Donahue of the tech world - ended the festivities with a rousing: "We are the NY tech community, and let's keep it going!"

In 1999, a gathering like this would probably have been thinking IPO. (Anyone remember First Tuesday? Guess what: That's back too.) But this is 2006. Everyone's so much smarter now...and, naturally, Heiferman's chief concern is how much Google love to accept. "They've offered to host all [NY Tech Meetup gigs]," he said, eyeing the crowd helping themselves to free chips, wine and beer. "But you can sort of feel the death star approaching. It's like they'll be able to watch the company presentations and just say, I'll take that one, and that one, and that one...."