PlanJam!From your screen to the scene

The outside of the Skylark bar in Pilsen looks like an ordinary two-story brick house. The white bird over its front door and the neon beer signs in its window hardly hint at its strange inner beauty. Friends had recommended the Skylark to me and I was pleasantly surprised by its unique charm. I expected a good dive bar and this is one I would recommend for a date.

Inside, the Skylark has brown walls and red lights on the liquor cabinets behind the long dark bar. Bring a date and enjoy the soft lighting and honky tonk or alternative rock music. Hang your coat on a hook and slip into their comfortable vinyl booths. Look up at the cases of kitschy curios like china ducks and someone’s tin foil art project. Play some pinball on the Elvis pinball machine and take a picture in the old curtained photo booth. The one part of the Skylark I cannot recommend is the library, a magazine rack with a few abandoned paperbacks and artsy local magazines like The 2nd Hand and Interview. It’s too dark to read in here.

There’s a full bar and the beers range from cheap date Pabst and Old Style ($2-$2.50) to high maintenance Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and Robert the Bruce ($3.50-$4). The menu has something for everyone, including vegetarians, with food items from cheeseburgers and fried chicken to the eggplant sandwich and butternut squash. I had a spicy barbecue pulled pork sandwich on a white roll with crisp coleslaw and tater tots. You can get piergoies or tater tots as an appetizer. If you press them, most folks will admit their secret love of tater tots. Most of the menu items cost $6 to $11, so you can treat your sweetheart to a complete lunch or dinner and not break the bank. Skykark's kitchen stays open late, until midnight on weeknights and one on Fridays and Saturdays. When you and your date are suddenly starving at 10pm, this menu is more fun than fast food and more satisfying than basic bar grub.

Skylark is kitschy but not pretentious. It can get crowded when a band plays there, but on the Thursday night when I went, they had plenty of room. My waiter was fast and friendly and the beer bottles came with a small glass for slow sipping. Before you go, note that the Skylark only takes cash, so don’t count on your credit card here. In case you forget this, an ATM waits by the front door. I may be a cheap date, but I’d definitely see the Skylark again.