Maryland House is so cool it doesn't need a lit-up sign outside informing you of its existence — you're just supposed to know. "We get people complaining about it a lot," says Joel Clark (an "unofficial manager"). "But once people find it, they love the place so much they don't seem to care anymore." The East Village-inspired five-room second-story walk-up is not a place for just any passerby, mostly because there's no way in Hell they'd find it. We adore this lounge for its aesthetic appeal — liquor bottles are concealed beneath a wooden bar, an original silkscreen/oil on canvas of modern thinkers and composers by St. Louisan Ben Poremba hangs above. That and the fact that we no longer need directions to find it.