Music

Show: "White Car were perfectly menacing, complete with a creepy, shirtless singer in a cowboy hat and a Trenchcoat Mafia longhair on keys—they're the best new local band I've seen all year," writes Jessica Hopper. Mahjongg headlines.

9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, 773-227-4433 or 866-468-3401, $10.

Dinner: Jane's Raters feel at home in the rustic room and find the reasonably priced Cal-American fare innovative, eclectic, and especially friendly to vegetarians.

1653-55 W. Cortland, (773) 862-5263

Movies

Show: Birth of Magellan Part of a year-long, citywide series on filmmaker Hollis Frampton—which concludes with a symposium in February 2010—this program collects five parts of the filmmaker’s monumental unfinished "Magellan" cycle.

8pm, Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark, 773-293-1447

Dinner: Huaraches Doña Chio couldn't be more modest: maybe four or five tables, no decor to speak of, TV on the counter usually tuned to Univision. But it's one of very few Mexican restaurants in Chicago serving huaraches, gorditas, and sopes handmade from fresh masa.

1547 W. Elmdale, 773-878-8470

Show: The New Year Parade Two grown siblings are blindsided by their parents' breakup in this gritty but delicately nuanced indie drama, which plays out against the backdrop of the annual Mummers Parade in Philadelphia.

Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton, 773-281-4114, 5pm, 7pm, and 9pm

Dinner Dee's Mandarin Restaurant If longevity means anything, this attractively decorated Lincoln Park restaurant is a winner, with a loyal clientele composed primarily of neighborhood young professionals.

1114 W. Armitage, 773-477-1500

Performing Arts

"Tired of holiday shows that are either sticky-sweet or so sour and cynical they set your teeth on edge?" writes Laura Molzahn. "Try Chicago Tap Theatre's Tidings of Tap!—an upbeat, ecumenical, sometimes even ruminative tap-dance celebration of the season."

8pm, UIC Theatre, 1044 W. Harrison 773-655-1175

Kohan Japanese Restauarant "A number of dishes come Trotter-like on their own specially designed plates, elegantly arranged according to arcane foodie feng shui. Exquisitely simple, though, is the Kohan fried rice with fresh vegetables, sizzled on the teppan by the grill masters (I watched ours juggle a raw egg from spatula to knife, catching it behind his back)," writes David Hammond.

730 W. Maxwell, 312-421-6254