Editor’s Note: this bar is now closed. Check out La Poesia across the street, or Gibraltar a couple of blocks away.

Las del Barco is a buoyant addition to an otherwise dark and sleepy block of ‘San Telmo Brooklyn.’ The little storefront bar could easily be passed by without a glance if it weren’t for the colorful lights in the window proudly announcing its presence.

Las de Barco aims to deliver more than the usual alcohol-drenched haze with afternoon film showings, live theater and music and art workshops.

Two attractive and scholarly sisters from Paraná province, María Eugenia and Virginia del Barco —‘the diplomat and the doctor,’ co-own the bar.

Virginia recently completed her studies for an M.D. at the University of Buenos Aires and will soon be doing her residency. María Eugenia has a degree in international relations.

The little bar is a neighborhood watering hole for Argentine artists, neighborhood drag queens and international students from the nearby Universidad de Cine who come to take advantage of drink specials. Once and a while a group swings by to smoke the house hookah on the tiny back patio.

“We want to have clients that come to enjoy the space,” says Virginia. “I guess our target customer base would be people in their 30’s and 40’s. It’s a bit more laid-back here for, say, an 18 year-old. We’d also like it to be a place where everyone knows one another — Argentines and foreigners. We want it to be homegrown.”

The Buenos Aires Pub Crawl stops here, but the del Barco sisters assure their regular customers that the gringo invasion is relegated to the normally slow Monday nights. Happy hour runs from 6—11 p.m. every night and includes specials two-for-one specials on drinks and pints.

Las del Barco Menu and Music

Las del Barco offers up a modest menu featuring fresh sandwiches, soup of the day, nachos, and picadas.

Depending on who is in control of the music, there is usually a decent selection of hits from the last few decades, although a few employees could modernize their tastes. Las del Barco may not be the night owl’s ultimate destination but it’s convivial stop for a few reasonably priced drinks to get the evening warmed up.

Las del Barco—$/$$
Bolívar 684
San Telmo
Tel: 4331-3004

• Hours: Mon-Wed: 6pm-23am
Thur: 6pm-4am
Fri: 6pm-5am
Sat: 8pm-5pm
Sun: 11am—8pm

• cash only