There are decrepit, old-man bars in Pilsen, Spanish-only bars, bars with painfully irregular schedules and unpredictable beer selections. And then there’s Skylark.

Recognizing the demand for a bar suited to Pilsen’s “white belt” scenester/artist contingent, one of the owners of Wicker Park’s Rainbo Club founded Skylark in 2003, offering a respectable selection of craft beers like 3 Floyds Gumballhead and Two Brothers Ebel Weiss, as well as $2 PBR pints, so even your unemployed friends can afford the night out. The food goes beyond standard pub grub with slaw-topped burgers and fancy salads, though I always crave fried stuff while drinking. Skylark’s crispy potato pierogi and tater tots—served with ranch, BBQ and Thai-chili sauces, they’re a massive improvement on the ones you ate in grade school—have spared me many a hangover with their magical booze-absorbent properties.

Skylark’s crowd is an eclectic mix of 20- and 30-somethings from the neighborhood. You’ll always find someone worth chatting up at the bar, or you can bring a group of friends and camp out at one of the big cushy booths along the wall. The dim, spacious bar strikes just the right balance between creepy and cool with spooky vintage masonic flags behind the bar, multi-colored retro light fixtures, a poker-themed pinball machine, and a photo booth perfect for an illicit mini-makeout session with that hot hipster whose name you don’t know yet. They have DJs on occasion, and the bartender’s iPod is chock full of oldies but goodies, everything from “Love is Strange” to “Bela Lugosi is Dead.” Skylark is the only bar I’ve ever been to that’s played cuts from Christian Death’s seminal deathrock album “Only Theatre of Pain” (my favorite record when I was fourteen-year-old gothling).

My only complaint about the place is that it’s a neighborhood bar, and I don’t live in the neighborhood. Most of the regulars live in Pilsen; getting to Halsted and Cermak late at night via CTA, especially as a lone female, can be dicey, but God knows I’ve done it (dressed in full kimono no less). Fortunately, I have friends with cars who are willing to make the trek south in the name of tater tots, photo booth fun and cheap beer.

Skylark, 2149 S. Halsted St, 312-948-5275, 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Sun.-Fri., 4 p.m.-3 a.m. Sat.

Photo by Oscar Arriola.