At this bar in the St. Regis Hotel, the dark wood walls are the perfect frame for the centerpiece and namesake: Old King Cole, of nursery rhyme fame, in an iconic 30-foot-wide mural by Maxfield Parrish. King Cole Bar also furnishes excellent free snack mix, top-tier people-watching, and an atmosphere of fur coats and generational wealth that improbably manages to feel warm and welcoming. The comfortable leather bar seats and tasseled chairs certainly don't hurt. The Bloody Mary was supposedly invented here, and they make quite a good one for $30. Lightly spicy, smooth, and boozy, it even comes with a logo-branded wood stir stick. But we like this place even better for a swanky, stiff, Midtown East martini.