Chicken soup—everyone’s cold-weather cure-all—move over. Flavorful seafood stews, velvety bisques, and hearty chowders are making a serious case for winter-soup supremacy. Here, five swimmingly good bowls of classic comfort.

Our Five Favorite Seafood Soups

1 Seafood Caldo

Xoco
Rick Bayless’s volcanic fish stew gets its heat from ancho and guajillo chilies, and it’s loaded with Mexican blue shrimp, mussels, and catfish. Lime and cilantro temper the flames. $13. 449 N. Clark St.

2 Bouillabaisse

Brindille
Carrie Nahabedian’s elegant broth—redolent of orange peel and saffron—gets poured tableside over a mélange of Tarbais beans, mussels, and shrimp. It’s the soul of the Mediterranean in a bowl. $17. 534 N. Clark St.

3 Bookbinder Soup

Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse
This full-bodied take on the Philadelphia classic—served with a shot of sherry—tastes like a cross between minestrone and Manhattan clam chowder, but it’s better than both. $5. 1028 N. Rush St.

4 Soupe de Poisson

The Barn
This creamy halibut bisque is infused with a spicy-sweet blend of cayenne pepper, paprika, and saffron and topped with a dollop of herbed whipped cream. $10. Rear 1016 Church St., Evanston

5 Chowder

Cold Storage
This silky chowder—made with half-and-half and potato scraps instead of lump-inducing flour—­artfully balances acidic high notes of lemon with deep bass notes of bacon and smoked whitefish. $8. 1000 W. Fulton Market