Valentine’s Day once again is quickly approaching and if you’re looking to go out on the town now is the time to make those reservations. Like last year, I thought it would be helpful to make a list of Durham restaurant offerings for February 14. Menus when available are linked. This list is in no way complete and I will continue to add to it.

604 at West Village
$49.95 per person for four courses
Includes champagne toast and a red rose

Blu
$45 for three courses

Broad Street Café
Lots …

January 21st is a big day for Motorco. During the day, it will play host to the second Luchadoras competition, Durham’s own women’s Mexican wrestling extravaganza. We’ve been told this time there will be even more wrestlers and a tag-team match. The beloved Captain Poncho’s Tacos truck will again be out front (order early) and bikeCOFFEE! will be there with a special Counter Culture Luchadores coffee and a La Luchadora Tabla (a slab of dark Mexican chocolate, cayenne, cacao nibs and Mexican coffee). It’s $5 …

Sadly our favorite New Year’s tradition the Wusses are playing in Carrboro at the Cats Cradle this year. So that leaves us to look into other options for ringing in 2012 in the Bull City. As always this is not a complete list and we will continue to update.

Events/Parties:

Beyu Caffe New Year’s Eve
Bernie Petteway Trio
10pm $25 VIP seating, $15 standing

Bull McCabes New Year’s Eve
Can’t find anything on their site, but Bull McCabes always throws a great New Year’s Eve party. There are always tons …

Shop Independent Durham Week starts this Saturday, November 26. This now annual event is put on by Durham’s Sustain A Bull organization. Not just a clever tagline for bumper stickers and t-shirts, Sustain A Bull is Durham’s non-profit Independent Business Alliance – it’s local businesses teaming up to support the local economy.

According to Sustain a Bull’s site:
For every $100 you spend at a national chain, $13 stays in our community. Spend the same amount with an independent local business and you will be keeping $45 local–more …

Somewhat shockingly Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. In honor of the quickly approaching big feasting, this is a quick guide to special events and places in Durham from which you can order eats for the big day. This is by no means a complete list and I’ll continue to add to it. Feel free to leave comments with any events or specials around town that I’ve missed.

Durham Farmer’s Market
There is a pre-Thanksgiving Farmer’s Market on November 22
2:00-5:00 pm
http://www.durhamfarmersmarket.com/

Places to Eat:
Four Square
Thanksgiving day dinner
3pm-7:30pm
Three course …

Next week the Kiwanis Club will host their annual pancake fundraiser in the Armory downtown. Piles of pancakes and sausage, chocolate milk in cartons, OJ in small paper cups – it’s a Durham tradition we try not to miss.

Tickets are $7 at the door, which buys you all the pancakes and sausage you can eat. The pancakes are light, fluffy and churned out by friendly Kiwanis Club members. The sausage is always from NC-based Neese’s. Whole and chocolate milk, OJ, coffee and sodas are also included.

There is …

Awesome tacos, elaborate masks, exaggerated high-flying wrestling moves, theatrical story lines and a coffee bike – what more could you want? Even better, you don’t have to stay up late for the spectacle that Luchadoras is sure to be.

Thrown by Durham’s ultimate party host King Kenney and local food writer Victoria Bouloubasis, Luchadoras will take place at Motorco Music Hall on November 19. The festivities will kick off at noon.

In honor of Mexico’s famed free wrestling matches, Lucadoras will be a three hour event featuring only female wrestlers …

On October 15, teams will gather at Central Park in Durham to compete in a non-perishable food build-off.  That’s right, a build-off  (really it’s a food drive, but build-off just sounds more fun).

Fifteen teams have committed or will commit (there seem to still be open team spots if you’re interested) to collecting 500+ items of non-perishable food. Then, on the day of the food drive, these teams will compete to see who can build the best sculpture out of their collected food. Their creations will be judged by  Sherry DeVries …

This Sunday is the 4th Annual Pittsboro Pepper Festival. Not too far from Durham, the pepper festival is a lovely event with two Durham chefs and breweries participating. There’s good food, good tunes and good brews – what’s not to like?

Durham chefs and breweries participating:
Mez, Dos Perros, Fullsteam Brewery and Triangle Brewery

For a full list of chefs and breweries:
The Abundance Foundation

Proceeds from the festival go towards their work on “environmental education, food security and sustainable agriculture research at Piedmont Biofarm.”

Tickets are $25 until October 1st …

We posted the announcement of Durham Spirits Company’s Open House back in June, and since I went, I thought I’d share with you all more about the company and the space it’s operating in.
It’s a new venture by Katie Coleman, a chef and culinary instructor at The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham with years of international training. She opened Durham Spirits Company to offer cooking and mixology classes, and I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the business. Right away I was struck by the …