It’s Thursday, Chicago.
Enjoy the last teases of warmer weather this weekend while it lasts. Holiday music started playing on WLIT-FM 93.9 this week. Days will be getting shorter starting Sunday, so we’ll be gaining an hour of sleep. Don’t forget to reset your clocks to “fall back.”
If you’re not quite ready for “fa-la-la,” today is National Sandwich Day, so we have guides out on Chicago’s classic Italian beef and its cousin, the Philadelphia cheesesteak
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, from our food desk ahead of the World Series tonight.We also have new reviews of “Causeway” and “Blockbuster” on streaming services and “Armageddon Time” and “Decision to Leave” in theaters, perfect for a weekend movie marathon. If you’re looking for other weekend plans, the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers is going on at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Our beer beat reporter Josh Noel sat down with the founders ahead of its 20th anniversary here.
Enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you back here next week.
— Lauryn Azu, deputy senior editor
Review: Zazas Pizzeria is the New York slice shop Chicagoans need
Chicagoans will be impressed by East Lakeview’s Zazas, writes Tribune food critic Nick Kindelsperger. This “no flop” pizza shop serves New York-style slices and whole pizzas, and there are plenty of DIY options and kitchen creations to chose from, like the bacon jam pie featuring spicy Calabrian chiles, mozzarella, scallions and cotija cheese. “Regardless of what you pick, it’s hard not to fixate on the remarkable crust,” Kindelsperger writes. Read his review here.
The Chicago origin — and breakdown — of Jerry Saltz, the everyman’s art critic
Jerry Saltz has made a career in art criticism of being an outsider. The Pulitzer Prize-winning critic will be speaking at the Chicago Humanities Festival this weekend. Read about Saltz’s journey from trucking to the art world here.
Still short of 1st anniversary, Evanston’s Double Clutch Brewing named US small brewery of the year
After winning multiple awards at the Great American Beer Festival this October, Double Clutch Brewery in Evanston is looking to expand. Not only does the brewery serve award-winning beer, it also hosts a collection of classic cars and vintage auto memorabilia. Read the story here.
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Tribune critic Nina Metz reviews the movie “Causeway,” now playing on Apple TV+ and starring Jennifer Lawrence as a veteran returning home after serving in Afghanistan. The movie also stars Brian Tyree Henry, whose supporting role as an auto mechanic is “a wonderfully layered performance that elevates the film at every turn,” Metz writes. Read her review here.
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After opening Rooh to acclaim, chef Sujan Sarkar delves into Indian fine dining at Indienne
Chef Sujan Sarkar’s new Chicago-based fine dining restaurant Indienne takes classic Indian dishes and gives them a luxurious, inventive twist. Indienne looks to draw in customers with fanciful tasting menus, multidimensional cocktails and caviar service. Read more here.
‘Decision to Leave’ review: From South Korea, a dazzlingly confounding detective mystery
In “Decision to Leave,” a South Korean film playing in select Chicago theaters, director Park Chan-wook zeros in on a familiar film trope and “takes its component parts and comes up with something no one has ever built before,” Tribune critic Michael Phillips writes. The neo-noir mystery romance between a detective and his suspect harks back to Hitchcock and Old Hollywood, but remains present, he says in his review here.
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‘Armageddon Time’ review: Coming of age in Reagan’s America
The Tribune food team went all out for National Sandwich Day, offering an all-encompassing guide to Chicago’s Italian beef, plus a roundup of where to get its mid-Atlantic cousin, the Philly cheesesteak, around Chicagoland during the Philadelphia World Series run. Still hungry for more? Tribune critic Nick Kindelsperger delves into the paper’s archives to answer an age-old question: Is a hot dog a sandwich? Send us your sandwich hot takes at [email protected].
The ultimate guide to Chicago’s Italian beef
Is a hot dog a sandwich? Chicagoans used to think so
Tribune theater critic Chris Jones praises director Henry Godinez’s production of “Measure for Measure,” playing now at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The play, set in 1950s Havana instead of 17th century Vienna, “is the work of a mature director; it feels much like a personal capstone,” Jones writes. Read his review here.
Review: ‘The Locusts’ by Gift Theatre has a standout cast
Ghareeb Nawaz, an Indian-Pakistani joint known for low-priced and heartily portioned meals, has a new location in Lincoln Park to round out its trio of restaurants in Chicago. The successful response to the new location is thanks in part to a first parody, now official Twitter account playing off the restaurant’s loyal following with cryptic memes and one simple slogan. Read the story here.
‘A Holly Jolly Christmas’ for WLIT: Here’s why the Chicago station switches to a holiday format now
If you think now is too early to play holiday tunes, data shows a lot of Chicagoans disagree. WLIT 93.9 started playing Christmas music on Tuesday this year, the earliest date in the station’s 22 years of playing these songs, thanks to strong fall ratings. Ratings jump even higher following the start of Christmas music on the air. We break it all down here.