He and his wife Jeannette left jobs as a butcher and a banker to chase his dream of a restaurant, and the family now runs Brasa Roja here on Montrose, a second Brasa Roja on Pulaski and El Llano on Elston. The chicken is the reason to come. It is marinated in a closely guarded family recipe, roasted on a custom rotisserie and finished directly over the charcoal to crisp the skin, a method Steve Dolinsky singled out on ABC7's Hungry Hound, and the family says they once sold 270 chickens on a single Saturday.
Beyond the bird, the menu is a full Colombian table: churrasco and rib-eye bistec encebollado, char-broiled beef ribs, sobrebarriga brisket in creole sauce, veal Llano-style, fried red snapper and catfish, half a rotisserie rabbit and the bandeja paisa, loaded with rice, beans, sausage, chicharron, egg, plantain, avocado, arepa and steak. Sancocho de gallina, beef empanadas, arepa con queso and fresh juices in lulo, mora, maracuya, guanábana and mango round it out. It's open every day from 9am to 9pm, and call-ahead orders are welcome.
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