Cheap Eats - Las Brasas: The end of takeout trauma

It happens to the best of us. It’s quitting time and you still haven’t figured out what to do about dinner. But one thing is certain: It’s a takeout night. Before you despair, do yourself a favor by grabbing a Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken from Las Brasas (310 E. Howard Ave., Decatur, 404-377-9121, www.lasbrasasdecatur.com).

This chicken shack may be tiny and have limited seating, but it has big heart. It is owned and operated by a family originally from Lima, Peru, that is as friendly as it is skilled in the kitchen. The chicken is slow-cooked with charcoal that imparts a delightfully smoky flavor to the already flavorful deep brown skin and moist flesh. Both dark and white meat is available in sizes ranging from a quarter chicken ($3.99/dark and $4.99/white) to a whole bird ($9.99). And no feast of Peruvian chicken is complete without a healthy dose of salsa de huacatay, a slightly spicy and grassy green sauce made with ají peppers and huacatay (a minty herb used in Peruvian cuisine).

Boiled slices of potato covered in a huancaina sauce ($4.99) with egg, lettuce and olive is a polarizing dish for those who frequent Peruvian chicken joints. But Las Brasas’ version might just convert naysayers. The huancaina sauce – a Peruvian cheese sauce of queso fresco tinted yellow by ají peppers – is garlicky with a slight tickle of heat on the finish, and rich without the gut-bomb aftereffects. Large cobs of oven-roasted corn ($1.29) tightly wrapped in foil shout summertime in each juicy bite. And there is not a single undercooked or under seasoned bean in a side of creamy baked pinto beans ($1.99/small or $2.99/large). The accompanying pico de gallo topping brightens the dish considerably.

For dessert, the owner makes a dense, homemade crema bolitada (or flan; $2.99) that we dare say is better than our granny’s, but let’s just keep that between us.