One of my long-time favorite events, Castleberry Hill’s monthly neighborhood art stroll, is coming up once again on Friday, July 8!

To sweeten the incentive to head downtown, Castleberry Point Lofts will be hosting a food truck lot in conjunction with the event this month, sponsored by Kwanza Hall, highlighting great art across Castleberry’s many galleries complemented by wine tastings and nomtastic (that’s right) food trucks from 7 to 10 p.m. on Nelson Street in front of Castleberry Point Lofts.

Featured participants include King of Pops, Tex’s Tacos, The Pup Truck, Westside Creamery, wine tasting at The Wine Shoe, Denise Jackson’s Emerging Art Scene Gallery, and ZuCot Gallery’s monthly exhibits.

Park for free in Castleberry Point’s covered lot or take Marta to Garnett Street if you expect to partake to unknown bounds in the wine tastings.

Tonight and Saturday, curated by Chefs Dan Latham and Eli Kirshtein, the Street Cart Pavilion will provide guests access to a growing food movement across the South: street food. Enjoy the flavors from a sampling of street cart vendors from across the region, including tacos, sweets and barbecue.

The Late Night Events will include Southern music, libations and street food created by guest chefs from across the region, including:

STREET CARTS:
Avocado’s from Mexico (Mexico)
Bulleit Bourbon (Louisville, KY)
CIROC Vodka (France)
Club Patron (Mexico)
Crooked Spoon (Orlando, FL)
Dietrich’s (Santa Rosa Beach, FL)
GastroPod (Miami, FL)
Klausie’s Pizza (Raleigh, NC)
Sweetwater Beer Truck (Atlanta, GA)
STK (Atlanta, GA – new restaurant)
VIKING Cooking Rig (Greenwood, MS)
Yum Yum Cupcake Truck (Atlanta, GA)
Westside Creamery (Atlanta, GA)

GUEST CHEFS:
Alberto Cabrera (FL)
Jeremy Fox (CA – GA native)
Katsuya Fukushima (DC)
Eli Kirshtein (GA)
Dan Latham (GA)
Whitney Otawka (GA)
Adam Sobel (DC)
Plinio Sandalio (TX)

Friday Tickets | Saturday Tickets

Depending on how traditional and formal you are looking for, there are plenty of options for Thanksgiving lunch and dinner, as well as events to occupy the restless.

Have a few other friends without somewhere to go? Host an orphan potluck and get that homey feeling with your family away from home.

Thanksgiving Day Events

Atlanta Marathon & Half Marathon at Turner Field
The Atlanta Marathon & Half-Marathon, an annual event ran each Thanksgiving, has quickly become the second largest race in the city. The Marathon starts and finishes at Turner Field, while the Half-Marathon leads runners down Peachtree Road through Downtown Atlanta then ending Turner Field. The Half Marathon starts at 7:00 AM and the Full Marathon at 7:30 AM.

Macy’s Great Tree Lighting Atlanta at Lenox Square Mall
The 63rd annual event hosts performances by family friendly artists like Katherine McPhee, Chuck Wicks, Bobby V., and Atlanta-based Austin Renfroe. The real reason to hit this? The firework finale as the tree is lit on top of Macy’s. The crowd is crazy and parking a pain so be sure to hop on Marta. The event is free and begins at 6:15 PM. If you are only interested in the tree lighting and fireworks, show up closer to 8:00 PM.

Thanksgiving Night Rock! at The Earl
Don’t really care for the whole holiday thing? Grab a beer at The Earl and check out The Gaye Blades, Predator and Barreracudas for some great local punk rock and an anti/post-Thanksgiving crowd. Show starts at 8:30 PM for those 21+ and will only put you back $7.

Three-Course Prix Fixe

Horseradish Grill
Horseradish’s three-course prix fixe menu is a good option for those who prefer a more formal Thanksgiving meal. Dinner includes choice of soup or salad, an entree with a side and dessert for $45.

South City Kitchen
This Southern-style restaurant has both locations open this year offering a three-course prix fixe Thanksgiving meal with all the fixings from noon to 6:30 PM for $39.95.

Craft Atlanta
This great Buckhead restaurant offers “local and artisanal ingredients prepared simply” which they translate for the holiday this Thursday in a traditional three course meal for $85.

Rosebud
Avoid the holiday chaos and retreat to Virginia Highland’s Rosebud for their special Thanksgiving menu including turkey, ham and all of the fixin’s, served family-style. They are taking reservations from 11:00 AM until 6:00 PM on Thanksgiving Day. Dinner is $38 per person (children 5-12 are $20) and if you’re flying solo, join them for a plate at the bar for just $20. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 404.347.9747.

Laid Back & Non-Traditional Noms

Majestic Diner
Open 24 hours, you can’t go wrong with this classic diner serving turkey, dressing and more this Thanksgiving. Of course, there are no reservations required.

The Colonnade
This old-school Atlanta favorite on Cheshire Bridge celebrates the holiday Southern-style with traditional Thanksgiving grub. Come armed with your sweatpants.

Tuk Tuk Thai Food Loft
Midtown’s newest Thai spot is offering a special holiday menu of four courses and a complimentary glass of house wine or champagne to toast for $35.

“We’d like to thank McDonald’s for treating our customers to a free trip and tasty meal during the Angus burger promotion,” said MARTA General Manager/CEO Beverly A. Scott. “The economic downturn has made it a difficult year for MARTA and our customers, and we are grateful for this opportunity to say a special thank you to them for riding MARTA and continuing to support our transit system.”

Five bucks saved is enough to make us stop by on the way home!

Starting today, Monday, July 20, and running through Sunday, July 26 is Yelp Eats! Restaurant Week. A what? More than a dozen Atlanta-area restaurants are offering three-course prix fixe menus for only $25. This is the first time Yelp has brought Yelp Eats! Restaurant Week to Atlanta. The $25 includes a three-course meal (dinner time only) with your choice of appetizer, entree and dessert. Many have vegetarian options!

Participating Atlanta restaurants include:

• Canoe
• Dogwood
• Ecco
• Haven
• La Tavola
• Pura Vida
• Shaun’s
• South City Kitchen Midtown
• South City Kitchen Vinings
• Taverna Fiorentina
• Toulouse
• Valenza

You can check out brief menu descriptions on the official Yelp Eats! event listing and they all sound absolutely delicious. Recommendation: Make a reservation to ensure they will have room for you. Restaurants are likely to be busier than usual this week!

Few reminders:
1. Call to make reservations, and request the Yelp Eats! menu
2. $25 does NOT include tax/tip or additional items and beverages
3. Spread the word. This deal is open to all!

This Thursday, July 16 from 8PM to 10PM, P’Cheen International Bistro and Pub will hold the latest in its openings featuring local artists.

Featured Atlanta artist TJ Tucker is showing his work entitled “Macro-Cosm” meant to play with the idea of breaking down three dimensional objects into flat planes using color, pattern and texture.

To RSVP contact rsvp@carenwestpr.com.

Chik-Fil-A, everyone’s favorite distributor of prayer-approved chicken, will give a free meal to all customers that wear cow costumes to their local Chik-Fil-A. The press release stresses over and over again that these costumes must be “head-to-toe,” so you can’t just slap on some rubber udders and expect the free food. Each cow-coated participant will receive an entree and side of their choice, plus a Dr. Pepper. Chik-Fil-A calls the (5th annual?!) event Cow Appreciation Day.

To be honest, I’m pretty tired of the cows writing in pidgin English ad campaign, and I shudder to think of its now that the chicken sandwich inventors have crossed the Mason-Dixon line (The other day, I had a guy from Philly ask me if I’d heard of Chik-Fil-A before!). The “Eat Mor Chikin” thing was mildly clever at the beginning, if a bit creepy (benign animals encouraging the slaughter of other benign animals) and hypocritical (the chain’s Hapeville Dwarf House HQ serves hamburgers). Then Atlanta gave birth to tens of sculptural billboards featuring the dyslexic cows. That irked me for sure. But then came the coup de grace in cow annoyance, when the Braves submitted to the erection of a giant tomahawkin’ cow at Turner Field, squelching what little class that food court of a baseball stadium had left.

Enough with the cows. Do not encourage them and their Sunday hangover-ignoring ways. Even a delicious chicken club sandwich won’t slake your eternal shame.

And for Pete’s sake, if you do go through with it, try not to scare the kids.

They will be serving featured beers from Atlanta Brewing Company, Sweet Water Brewing Company, and Terrapin Beer Company from Athens, GA.

The event is free and Marta is super easy — Marlow’s is only one block from the Midtown Station. There is also free parking available in the garage behind the restaurant.

Festivities include:

• $4 Atlanta Beers
• $2 Tasting Size Beers
• Voting for the Festival’s Best Beer
• Live Music from 4PM – 2AM*

* Marlow’s mentions nothing about who will be providing said live music so don’t ask me. You’ll have to show up to see.

Tonight, Wednesday, June 17 and tomorrow, Thursday, June 18, Budweiser is bringing Lager Lessons Live to Atlanta. They are offering two classes per evening, one at 7pm and a later one at 9pm, at Andrews Upstairs in Buckhead. Not entirely sure what it entails but they are free events and include beer! You must be 21 years of age or older.

RSVP: Lager Lessons Live

Miley Cyrus is shooting her new movie on Tybee Island this summer. Georgia is quite the hot bed for filming right now thanks to recent incentives. Never been a better time to go stalk Atlanta Hartsfield Airport for celebrities.

The Atlanta Public Schools and Atlanta Development Authority strike deal over TAD funds. Lord knows APS needs it. Thomas over at Fresh Loaf has the full story.

Free and cheap booze this week: Tonight, drop by the new 5 Seasons Westside opening from 5:55PM – 8PM for free beer, food and music. You can also swing by La Tavola tonight for a free glass of wine at (password–”twitterwine”). There is also $1 Widmer beer at Stella all week.

For those of you who can relate to the feeling of searching for a power outlet on long days or nights out to squeeze a little charge into your iPhone, check out this great and cheap portable charger — grab this one from Encore for only $20 with shipping! I’ve been getting two full charges from dead on it.

Apparently we’re number one on Google for “atlanta humor blog.” What kind of humor do you guys want to see on Drive A Faster Car?

You’re out on the town. Hit one spot but it’s not really what you’re in the mood for. Looking for the next place to go? See where your friends are and what they are up to with FourSquare. It’s a very addicting and fun iPhone/BlackBerry application that allows you to do just this in a super easy mobile dashboard. Tons of other great functions such as location mapping, badges (yes, like when you were in boy/girl scouts), and convenient contact to your friends directly from inside the application.