Head into the bright Tex-Asian restaurant Wokker, spot cowboy-hat-wearing money cat and lift up the nearby framed kitty portrait to reveal a doorbell. Press the button, and enter a world of moody mystery, mirrors, and hand-crafted cocktails, including a refreshing tomato water martini and a lychee gimlet. Light bites, including dumplings and dim sum-inspired dishes, are also available to order if you work up an appetite.

Look to your left and you may imagine that you’re in the company of the Rat Pack at this moody Heights steakhouse. Known as a restaurant within a restaurant, Patton’s is located inside its more relaxed counterpart, Savoir, and can be accessed via a hidden door behind the bar. The 38-seat restaurant is an homage to old-world American steakhouses of yesteryear. Find all the classics, from rib-eyes and New York strips to shrimp cocktails, alongside live jazz performances.

Go to Cantina Barba for the late night eats, and stay for a drink in the restaurant’s hidden mezcal bar, coined Mijo’s. Try a mezcal flight or a mezcal-fueled cocktails served aflame, then pose for a picture in front of the dramatic wall of skulls.

Accessing this elusive, membership-only speakeasy might take some research. The bar, helmed by Permission bar owner, is membership-only and technically off-the-grid, meaning, there’s no website, email address, or phone number available to get more information. Instead, interested bargoers must “inquire within” at Permission about the bar, and only then might they be able to enter the next-door bar, which promises rare whiskeys, cocktails, and personalized menus and drinks for its members.

Walk into this bar, and you might mistake it for a dessert shop. A few steps in, and through the passageway of a back storage room, you’ll be transported to a vibrant, Prohibition-style bar complete with a spacious patio. Like the space, the cocktails are attractive, made in whimsical colors and with dehydrated fruit and rose petal garnishes.

Located in the historic Southern Pacific Railroad building in downtown, this former watch shop turned bar is a great place to get an Old Fashioned and pretend you’re an extra in Boardwalk Empire. Brown spirits are plentiful, and the cocktails are classic. Pick your poison, and explore the storied two-level space.

What appears to be the entry to a downtown law office is actually the passage way to one of downtown’s most beloved cocktail bars. Venture up the narrow staircase, and find a bar with a terrace peering over Main Street below. Armed with a large spirits and wine list, the bartenders at Bad News Bar craft imaginative cocktails that change seasonally.

Like something out of a movie, this ultra-exclusive, reservation-only cocktail bar is quietly situated behind a bookcase within the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown, and it requires a code to enter. Once inside, prepare to be wowed with head-turning cocktails and pours of rare premium spirits, presented in vintage glassware, in a chic and sophisticated setting.

The illuminated marquee prominently displayed in the Americana development may lead you to believe a movie theater lies beyond, but don’t be fooled. A mock cinema entrance, complete with a ticket counter and concession stand, actually leads into a sprawling restaurant and patio with a Hollywood-theme. Juliet offers lavishly ornate dishes like twin lobster tails, double cut pork chops, and the Golden Star, a tomahawk rib-eye wrapped in 24-karat gold.

Make a reservation at Norigami, where hand rolls and crudo reign supreme, and then slip into the Hidden bar, quite literally hidden behind an obscure door on the right. Adhering to the restaurant’s theme of origami, the restaurant’s ceiling is decorated with hundreds of origami cranes and lit up with pink and purple fluorescent lighting. The drinks are just as pretty, with the Paper Crane, a mixture of bourbon, Jamaican rum, Jamaican bitters, aperol, Campari, and pineapple, coming in a nifty glass with a miniature paper crane as a garnish.

This wine bar and restaurant is located atop the Local Foods Market in Rice Village, and can be accessed by a hidden door on the side of the building. Once upstairs, the bright and airy space offers comfortable indoor seating with a covered patio looking onto the village. Peruse the well-curated wines, sourced from trusted producers, and pair a bottle with snacks like pistachio whipped goat cheese, oysters on the half shell, and umami black cod in miso.