GRAND CHUTE - Sure, outdoor patio dining can be a year-round thing in Wisconsin.

All it takes is a heated "igloo."

That's what the employees at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel (formerly a Holiday Inn) at 150 Nicolet Road are calling their newly-installed domes, now open for restaurant and bar patrons looking to spend some time in the hotel courtyard in single-digit temps.

The outdoor domes are an eating-and-drinking trend of late, with the New York Times a few days ago declaring them "everywhere this winter" in the city. They've popped up in the Milwaukee area in recent years, including with Café Benelux in the Third Ward finding success with rooftop domes. Lodge Kohler is promoting some as opening soon in Green Bay. They're surfacing in Michigan, too, including at a popular brewpub in the Upper Peninsula.

The DoubleTree has three of the domes set up in the courtyard outside the hotel restaurant, the Watermark. Each sits a maximum of six people and they can be reserved for no more than two hours. There also is a $100 minimum for the food and drink tab.

The dome walls are a see-through plastic (or plastic-like material) and each shelter is screwed into the concrete. They are carpeted, decorated with lights and throw blankets and have a zippered door like a tent would have to enter and exit.

Most importantly, each one also has a space heater.

Steve Madson came to the Grand Chute hotel to be the food and beverage manager about six months ago. Before that he'd worked at a Hilton hotel in Wausau that successfully brought in a few of these wintertime domes. He wanted to do the same here.

"It's a novelty," Madson said. " ... It's just something different. You can't get it anywhere else."

The hope is for the domes to attract Fox Cities residents looking for a new and fun experience. Many of the hotel guests are business travelers, Madson said, so getting a group together outside isn't really an option for them.

Both Madson and hotel sales administrator Jessica Kerwin said they haven't heard of any other place in the Fox Cities with igloos. It's likely this is the first — and using other areas as a reference point, unlikely to be the last.

Know of another place with domes, or plans to have them this winter? Contact Shane Nyman at 920-996-7223 or snyman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @shanenyman.