Five spots with cozy fireplaces

This downtown Chicago hotel has been a favorite of movie stars, sports legends, royalty and presidents since 1910.

This hip cocktail lounge is exactly what you’d expect from a bar named after a line of T.S. Eliot poetry: pristine (the carefully constructed cocktails are excellent), pretentious (you won’t find a sign on the door—just look for the long lines) and, ultimately, completely and unarguably gorgeous.

Owner Malcolm Molloy has that fresh-off-the-boat brogue that could charm the pants off your own mother. But please don’t take this for one of your run-of-the-mill McIrish pubs. Folk musicians pluck away while those-in-the-know scarf down Guinness stew or a full Irish breakfast, regardless of the witching hour (even better in colder months while sitting near the fire). Compared with many other gastropubs laying claim to the Emerald Isle, it’s a sea of tranquility.

Swedish and Norwegian accents abound at this Andersonville stalwart. If you’re lucky, you can snag a couch in the back by the fireplace where you can take in the cool vintage bar (the design of which was inspired by the S.S. Normandie, the world’s largest ocean liner during the ’30s), sip some seasonal glogg and check out the friendly neighborhood crowd.