Let’s face it – it’s easy to fall into the lull of sitting at home all weekend long. And before you know it, that turns into a grind similar to the workweek. This city attracts many of the biggest shows and celebrities, and is home to some of the finest cuisine east of anywhere. It’s a shame to let that kind of prestige slip by you just to lounge with the daylong marathon of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. So, this past weekend, I traded in my sweats for a new dress, and my boyfriend and I had ourselves a night out in the Bull City.
For dinner, we chose 604 at West Village. Neither of us had dined there before, and my boyfriend liked the authenticity of the menu, an appreciative nod from his Italian genes. I got the citrus-glazed and pan-seared scallops with butternut squash gratin and hericots verts, and he opted for the orecchiette with housemade sage, pork sausage and broccolini and basil pesto (after he'd looked up the pronunciation to ensure he didn’t shame his heritage). Both our dishes arrived quickly, warm and fresh. The scallops were flavorful and juicy, and we enjoyed having a conversation across a table instead of side by side on the sofa.
Full and happy, we quickly made our way down the street (it took three minutes by car) to the Durham Performing Arts Center for Jerry Seinfeld’s 9:30 show. It’s a shame that Seinfeld was a bit before our time, because it would have been played repeatedly on our Netflix along with our other comedy series: 30 Rock, Parks and Rec and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. (By the way, Jerry reminded us that it’s been 15 years since Seinfeld ended. Crazy!)
Still, Jerry had us in stitches all night, and even alluded to what I’m writing about now: The fact that we made it “out” was an accomplishment that we should be proud of. We went through the whole production of working our day around getting ready, deciding where to eat, when to eat, if we should go eat at all, getting in the car and out of the car and back into the car, making it to the show and in our seats on time, deciding on snacks, drinks. And his job was just to distract us for a little while until we left and went through the whole ordeal again another night. Distract us he did with more hilarious truths, and we were so glad to have forgone the couch for DPAC's plush seats and many deep, powerful laughs.
Lucky for us Durhamites, this doesn't have to be a one-time thing; who’s up for Tracy Morgan at The Carolina Theatre in June?
