Dining out: Eat, drink and be merry at Broken Oar, Preservation, Durty Nellie's and more

Embrace the cold with tasty tipples from several suburban bars and restaurants as we careen through the holidays.

Winter Wonderland

Baby, it's cold outside. If you want the charm of a winter wonderland but the warmth of the great indoors then Broken Oar's Arctic Winter Bar may be what you need. The heated, enclosed outdoor lounge has been transformed into a festive winter drinkery from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays until February. In addition to their full menu, the winter pop-up offers seasonal martinis, craft cocktails, iced shots and winter warmers. The $5 entry includes a specialty drink with preregistration, which can be made at brokenoar.ticketleap.com/arctic-winter-bar-at-the-broken-oar/. Broken Oar is at 614 Rawson Bridge Road, Port Barrington, (847) 639-9468, brokenoar.com/.

Holiday Beerfest

Durty Nellie's Holiday Beerfest, held in partnership with Toys for Tots, starts at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 9. The event will feature craft beers from about 30 breweries, most of which are from Illinois and many of which are bringing more than one offering. Tickets are $50, or six for $270 if you want to bring the gang. And feel free to bring a new book or toy to donate to Toys for Tots. Durty Nellie's is at 180 N. Smith St. in Palatine. The event is 21 and older.

More dining with Santa

Last week we detailed a number of places where you can dine with Santa, but apparently the big guy has made more plans around the suburbs. You can meet and mingle with Kriss Kringle at Timothy O'Toole's three suburban locations next week. He'll be at the Lake Villa location at 10 W. Grand Ave. on Monday, in Libertyville at 412 N. Milwaukee Ave. on Tuesday and Gurnee at 5572 Grand Ave. on Wednesday. Dinner with Santa runs from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Kids younger than 10 eat for $1.99 with the purchase of an adult entree. For details, see TimothyOTooles.com. Reservations are encouraged.

Merry Martini dinner

Bonefish Grill is hosting a Merry Martini dinner, a special four-course, chef-crafted evening with martini pairings highlighting the flavors of the season, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13. The $55 per person holiday event starts with a shaved Brussels sprouts salad paired with a frosted rosemary pomegranate martini, followed by linguine del mar and the partridge in a pear tree martini. The third course of grouper with smoky tomato butter is served with the winter white cosmo. Finish up with chocolate lava cake and the gingerbread espresso martini for dessert. Bonefish has suburban locations in Algonquin and Schaumburg.

Ugly sweater weather

Fun fact: Air Supply has a Christmas album. And you can soft rock out to it Thursday, Dec. 14, at Preservation in Geneva during their yacht rock-themed Ugly Sweater Party outside on their ultra-heated patio. The party starts at 6 p.m. at the restaurant, mixology house and wine bar located at 513 S. 3rd St.

That's just splendid

You may have heard of the golden hour - that time just before sunset with perfect light for photos. Now you can enjoy the equally lovely sounding Splendid Hour at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams shops. Everyday before 5 p.m. Jeni's is offering 20% off any L'affogato for a limited time. What's a L'affogato? It's Jeni's take on the Italian affogato, featuring their ice cream topped with two shots of Slingshot Coffee Co. cold brew. Holiday L'affogato pairings include the Peppermint Bark with White Chocolate Peppermint & Darkest Chocolate, the Rum Punch with Rum Ball, and the Spiked Eggnog with Boozy Eggnog. Jeni's has suburban locations in Oakbrook Center and Naperville.

• Send dining events and openings and closings to rwest@dailyherald.com.