Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

It’s Thursday, Chicago.

And we’re so good at finding things to celebrate. For example, Friday is National Cheesesteak Day. Though you probably don’t live in Philadelphia, you can celebrate the Chicago way, with gooey melted cheese on an Italian beef.

If your family and friends are gathering for iftar in the coming days and weeks, we have recipes for a few Somali dishes that are sure to please a crowd this Ramadan.

And now that tickets are on sale for summer bashes like Lollapalooza, Pitchfork Fest and the Chicago Humanities Festival, we can say that spring has sprung in Chicagoland, even if the sun doesn’t seem to have gotten the message.

Enjoy the weekend, we’ll see you here next week.

— Lauryn Azu, deputy senior editor

More Top Picks Best Fermented Hot Sauce Kits

Review: Vermilion transforms with one woman’s fiery Indian Chinese flavors and convictions

The Squid Games noodle dish at the restaurant Vermilion, 10 W. Hubbard St. in Chicago, is seen on March 14, 2023.
The Squid Games noodle dish at the restaurant Vermilion, 10 W. Hubbard St. in Chicago, is seen on March 14, 2023.

At longtime River North fixture Vermilion, “the new Indian Chinese incarnation is concise and much more personal,” critic Louisa Chu writes. Owner Rohini Dey recently revamped the original Indian Latin menu, and now Vermilion is serving dishes like chili chicken, a re-imagined dim sum dish, jackfruit spring rolls and luscious desserts. And Dey doesn’t shy away from giving her menu items provocative names. Read more here.

‘Succession’ review: The billionaires are back for a final season on HBO, battle lines drawn

Brian Cox in Season 4 of “Succession.”

The final season premiere of “Succession” is out on HBO Max this weekend. “Let us take this opportunity to savor Brian Cox’s final lap as Logan Roy, he of the towering rage, manipulative tendencies and sulky disappointment in his progeny,” critic Nina Metz writes. Read her review here.

My worst moment: The fib that cost ‘CSI: Vegas’ star Paula Newsome an audition — and her dignity

Readers’ Choice Food Awards 2023: Vote for your favorite restaurants, bars and more

Let the voting begin in the Readers' Choice and Critics' Choice Food Awards.
Let the voting begin in the Readers’ Choice and Critics’ Choice Food Awards.

The nominations have been tallied, and it’s time to start casting those votes — for the mayoral runoff, sure, but just as importantly: for the 2023 Readers’ Choice Food Awards. You can vote for your favorite bar, restaurant, online food sensation and more every day until March 31 here.

‘John Wick 4’ review: A globe-trotting American assassin in Paris, Berlin and Neverland

Keanu Reeves, with nunchuks, sizes up his latest anonymous ill-fated adversary in “John Wick 4.”

Keanu Reeves reprises his role as John Wick in the latest sequel, out this weekend in theaters. Clocking in at almost three hours, too much of “John Wick: Chapter 4? mistakes grandiloquence for excitement, critic Michael Phillips writes in his latest review. “But yes, as bloody diversion goes, the audience gets its money’s worth.”

The late Lance Reddick, who died Friday and played Charon in the “Wick” series, appears briefly in the early scenes of the movie, and Phillips has thoughts on that as well. Read more here.

Column: Immersive video exhibits: Pro or con? What clues does ‘Mozart Immersive’ give about the future of entertainment?

Celebrate National Cheesesteak Day with a secret Chicago cheesesteak, yes, cheese on Italian beef

The Chicago cheesesteak at Al's #1 Italian Beef, on Taylor Street in Chicago, is seen on March 21, 2023.
The Chicago cheesesteak at Al’s #1 Italian Beef, on Taylor Street in Chicago, is seen on March 21, 2023.

You might celebrate National Cheesesteak Day on Friday with the beloved sandwich imported from Philadelphia. Or perhaps with cheese on Italian beef — Italian beef authority Al’s #1 Beef serves it, and so does Portillo’s. Read Louisa Chu’s take on why cheese on Italian beef isn’t so taboo here.

Lollapalooza lineup 2023: Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish and Red Hot Chili Peppers

Billie Eilish performs onstage during the Austin City Limits Festival at Zilker Park on Oct. 2, 2021, in Austin, Texas.
Billie Eilish performs onstage during the Austin City Limits Festival at Zilker Park on Oct. 2, 2021, in Austin, Texas.

Lollapalooza announced its lineup for 2023 this week. Headliners include Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers and ODESZA. The four-day music festival will be Aug. 3-6 in Grant Park, bringing more than 170 bands to nine stages. Tickets went on presale today. Read more here.

Pitchfork Music Festival 2023: The Smile, Big Thief and Bon Iver

Chicago Humanities Spring Fest 2023: Ruth E. Carter, Rainn Wilson, Stacey Abrams and plenty of music

Review: Theo Ubique is just the theater to put on a fresh and lively ‘Threepenny Opera’

More Top Picks How To Keep A Migraine Diary That Actually Helps

Michael Mejia, Carl Herzog, Tyler DeLoatch, Isabel Garcia, Peter Stielstra and Luiza Vitucci in “The Threepenny Opera” at Theo Ubique Theatre.

Evanston’s Theo Ubique Theatre is performing Bertolt Brecht’s “The Threepenny Opera” until the end of April. “This 1928 composition … really never goes out of style, and as long as corruption, hypocrisy and virtue signaling remain a constituent part of human behavior, it never will,” theater critic Chris Jones writes. Read more here.

Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors’ at Chicago Shakespeare is a warm and generous farewell from Barbara Gaines

Savory and sweet Ramadan recipes to break the fast

Hilib sambuus (fried beef dumplings) with basbaas cagaar (green hot sauce) is seen in New York on March 16, 2023. In Somali homes across the globe, you'll find cooks following a shared culinary choreography: Henna-stained fingers fill and fold sambuus to fry to the same shade of golden brown as the soon-setting sun. Food styled by Simon Andrews.
Hilib sambuus (fried beef dumplings) with basbaas cagaar (green hot sauce) is seen in New York on March 16, 2023. In Somali homes across the globe, you’ll find cooks following a shared culinary choreography: Henna-stained fingers fill and fold sambuus to fry to the same shade of golden brown as the soon-setting sun. Food styled by Simon Andrews.

With Ramadan beginning Wednesday, Muslims worldwide are gathering with family and friends to share meals after sundown. Try out these four Somali recipes to celebrate, like Soor iyo Dalac Bilaash, tomato-topped grits, or Rooti Farmaajo, cheese-filled buns baked into a honeycomb pattern. Learn how to prepare these dishes and more here.

With a Pink Floyd cover band, we listen to ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ on its 50th anniversary

Kyle Strong, the founder and keyboard player of the Chicago-based Pink Floyd cover band called “Think Floyd USA,” is seen at home with a keyboard and some memorabilia on the North Side of Chicago on March 3, 2023. Pink Floyd’s album “Dark Side of the Moon” was released March 1, 1973.

“The Dark Side of the Moon,” the eighth studio album of the band Pink Floyd, turns 50 this month. The Tribune’s Chris Borrelli interviews Kyle Strong of the Chicago Pink Floyd cover band Think Floyd USA to discuss the album’s timeless meaning. Upcoming events to commemorate the anniversary include an Adler Planetarium show set to the album March 31 and a performance by Think Floyd USA on April 1 in Crystal Lake. Read more here.

Head to southern Indiana for fertile vineyards, historic hotels

Patoka Lake Marina, edging the 8,800-acre Patoka Lake, offers houseboats, cabins and floating cabins for overnight accommodations.
Patoka Lake Marina, edging the 8,800-acre Patoka Lake, offers houseboats, cabins and floating cabins for overnight accommodations.

Southern Indiana has an unlikely treasure trove of vineyards and wineries. Read where you can sample terrific food and wine, unwind in woodsy and romantic rural hotels and discover a different side of the state here.