Feral Minette tips a Corona

For months, I drove by the mysterious new bar at the former Clark St. location of The Twisted Spoke. Sitting at the intersection of the gay bars of Boystown, the sports bars of Wrigleyville, and the Alley on Clark and Belmont, The Zoo was an enigma, lit by a single tiny, white neon sign.

I finally got inside when my DJ pals Dave Roberts and Peter Propaganda invited me to a Mardi Gras event they were playing—a huge fan of the 80s new wave, electronica, and industrial the duo spins at other events at The Kinetic Playground, The Holiday Club and Bondage Night Chicago parties, I was excited to check out The Zoo for Fat Tuesday. The three-room bar was packed with folks in their festival finery—Marie Antoinette wigs crafted from white hose tubing, corsets, multi-colored wigs and devil horns, everyone sipping Captain Morgan hurricanes and Coronas. As the name implies, there’s a bit of an animal theme to the bar: zebra print walls in the dance room, aquarium scenes on the TVs bordering the bar (a nice break from the omnipresent Cubs games at neighboring bars), and classy, framed black and white prints of monkeys, tigers and other wildlife. The bar doesn’t descend into over-the-top tacky, however; the animal print is balanced out by deep purple walls in the main bar room and rococo wallpaper and diaphanous drapes in the central lounge area. The front room features the bar (the beer list is a bit short for my taste, but they’ve got some interesting cocktail specials) and a DJ booth with a small dance area. The middle room, a dimly lit lounge with romantic chandeliers and lots of comfy couches to sprawl out on, leads to a back room dedicated to dancing, with a second DJ booth for additional tunes. (For Mardi Gras, Peter was playing Industrial faves like Psychic TV in the front while Dave rocked New Wave like Tears for Fears in the back). I’ve also heard they turn out some decent bar bites in the kitchen, but I haven’t had a chance to try them yet.

The animal aesthetic seems to be a theme for new bars: The Lucky Lady (440 N. State St., 312-670-0335) and Faith & Whiskey (1365 W. Fullerton Ave., 773-248-9119) both feature redneck-chic deer-antler chandeliers and taxidermied deer heads; Faith and Whiskey’s deer appears to be dipped in silver ball bearings for that creepy cyborg look. And then there are a bunch of new bars named after animals: The Bull and Bear (431 N. Wells St., 312-527-5973, technically a stock market expression, but getting a lot of attention for nifty tableside beer taps), an outpost of Canadian pub chain the Firkin & Pheasant (670 W. Diversey Pkwy., 773-327-7040, I don’t know what a firkin is, but it sounds vicious), and the Wild Pug (4810 N. Broadway, 773-784-4811), a gay bar-meets-British pub that was originally called the “Wilde Pug” after 19th century writer/dandy Oscar Wilde.

Of course, if you want a true wildlife experience, check out the guys brown-bagging Mad Dog 20/20 and King Cobra in front of 7-11. If you’re lucky, they might share.

The Zoo, 3369 N. Clark St., 773-697-4511, Fri.-Sun. 5 p.m.-2 a.m., Sat 5 p.m.-3 a.m.