Eat. Watch. Do. — ‘The White Lotus’ review, scary good coffee, plus how to save on holiday travel

It’s Thursday, Chicago.

We’re so close to the weekend, and a very spooky weekend at that. If you still don’t know what your Halloweekend plans will be, consider checking out a horror movie-themed cafe in Avondale, cooking a vintage Halloween recipe from the archives of the Tribune’s Mary Meade, or reading one of our horror-lit picks.

We also have Louisa Chu’s review of Nine Bar, Chinatown’s first craft cocktail bar that serves small bites like crispy crab Rangoon and a mai tai with an orgeat syrup made from almond cookies.

There’s a lot going on in local theater right now too. Oak Park’s Madison Street Theater just debuted “Man and Moon,” a new play about a man facing cancer and the girl he befriends. We have Mercury Theater Chicago’s entire 2023 lineup, as well as a review for its staging of the murder-mystery classic “Clue.”

And if you’re looking for non-spooky things to do, check out the Field Museum’s Philippine Heritage Collection as Filipino American History Month comes to a close, or a discussion with author George Saunders at the Chicago Humanities Festival in Hyde Park.

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

— Lauryn Azu, deputy senior editor

Chicagoans are uniquely positioned to learn more about Filipino culture and history through the Field Museum’s archives, which contain more than 13,000 objects from the islands. The museum’s Philippine Heritage Collection is one of the largest collections in the United States — a perfect draw as Filipino American History Month draws to a close. Read the entire story here.

If you’ve seen the horror cult classic “The Brood,” figuring out what’s going on at this part-cafe, part-movie memorabilia museum in Avondale will be a no-brainer. Read about what they have in store for Halloween here.

“In ‘Man and Moon,’ a man confronting his own mortality and a girl named after the moon seem to have little in common at first, but they learn to trust and support one another,” writes critic Emily McClanathan. Read her review of the Madison Street Theater production here.

The founders of the Festival of Wood & Barrel Aged Beer, taking place Nov. 4 and 5 this year at the University of Illinois at Chicago, never expected that 20 years later, the festival would still be going strong. Tribune reporter Josh Noel speaks with founders Jeff Sparrow, Pete Crowley and Todd Ashman about their journey making FOBAB one of the nation’s most iconic beer festivals.

Eat. Watch. Do.

Weekly

What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life … now.

Director Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” is a new dramedy about a friendship dissolving amid the backdrop of the 1922-23 Irish Civil War, and it premieres in theaters Friday. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson star as the two friends in a small island off the coast of Ireland, but “the standoff turns increasingly lurid and mutilating,” writes Tribune critic Michael Phillips in his review.

Nine Bar owner Lily Wang likes to describe the space as an “Asian-ish cocktail bar” that’s behind Chinatown’s Moon Palace Express, writes Tribune critic Louisa Chu in her review. Wang’s parents own Moon Palace Express, and together they are drawing an intergenerational crowd with an intentionally small and thoughtful, yet innovative offering of food and drinks. Read Chu’s entire review here.

Transporting viewers from Hawaii to Sicily in Season 2, HBO’s “The White Lotus” “is a fantasia of wealth and misery — forever intertwined — but is an incomplete world populated by incomplete characters,” Tribune critic Nina Metz says in her review.

Though actors Aubrey Plaza and Meghann Fahy are standouts and the visuals are first-class, it’s not enough to save viewers from a lacking script without a definite overarching statement, Metz writes. “The White Lotus” will air Sundays on HBO beginning Oct. 30.

Author, MacArthur “genius grant” winner and Oak Forest native George Saunders has a new collection of stories out, titled “Liberation Day.” On Saturday, he’s returning to his hometown for the Chicago Humanities Festival, and Tribune reporter Chris Borrelli interviews him ahead of the festival here.

Eight Chicagoans share their experiences living above a restaurant, from Me Dee Cafe in Ravenswood to Smyth in the West Loop. In a sprawling, cacophonous city, when a restaurant is your neighbor, you get the feeling that someone’s always looking out for you, writes Maggie Hennessy.

If you’re seeing Halloween decorations at the store, you should take that as a sign the holiday travel season is just around the corner. And you know what that means: Cue the expensive flights! We’ve rounded up tips on how to save when flights are over 40% more expensive than last year.