BRASA Rotisserie

Brasa Rotisserie

600 E. Hennepin Ave.

Minneapolis, MN.

55414

tel (612) 379-3030

www.brasa.us



The family scooted up to the twin cities for a coupl'a days so that I could take my engineer license re-certification tests. My employer was nice enough to make sure that I had to drive up on Mother's Day. My mother-in-law happens to live outside St. Paul so we took her out to dinner as soon as we got in to town. We had a disappointing meal at a suburban Thai restaurant.
Monday's studies left me ready for a decent meal. My niece, who attends college in Minneapolis, came out to eat with us and suggested that we go out for "Mexican" food. As we headed for Mpls's east side I was getting my enzymes revved up for such fare as we pulled up to Brasa Rotisserie.
I'm not sure why my niece thought this was a Mexican restaurant, but I could quickly tell it wasn't. Exactly what Brasa served was yet a mystery. It looked at first glance like everyone was eating barbecue.
The restuarant was a former mechanic's garage. The original garage doors opened up onto an outdoor patio space. The smallish indooor eating space and the patio were packed with guests. My niece said that it gets rather crowded inside during the winter months. The interior was painted a pleasant yellow and the tables & chairs harmonized well with their walnut finish.
We arrived at 8:30 P.M. which was a half hour before they stop serving at 9 P.M. I thought this to be a rather early closing time for east side Minneapolis. (They are open until 10 P.M. on Fri & Sat). Were were graciously seated and I felt less stressed about our late seating.
We sat insde at a 'four-top' and perused the menu. Brasa takes it's inspiration from Caribbean & South American cuisine and features slow cooked meats. There are only a small handful of well prepared entrees along with a larger list of side orders. These can all be served a la carte or entrees can be served with a choice of two sides. Sandwiches are also served. The beverage menu was a bit skimpy in the beer dept. but had a decent selection of Mexican sodas, as well as fairly traded tea & coffee. BTW - Brasa sources all its meats, eggs & dairy from free range and/or pasture raised farms. They also attempt to use as much local products in their meals as possible. Organic & fair trade products are used whenever they can be.
I selected the Pulled Chicken with Smoked Pepper Sauce ($7.50) along with a side of Guacamole & Chips and Fried Sweet Plantains ($3.75 each). The pulled chicken was reminscent of Chicken Ala King in it's creamy, peppery sauce and was quite tasty. The plantains were similar to the Costa Rican Style I've had in the past; very ripe, sweet plantains are fried until dark brown and caramelized. Simply delicious. The guacamole was decent too. Some of the other entrees sampled at our table included Creole Style Roasted Chicken (1/4 chicken = $5.00, 1/2 chicken = $9.00, whole chicken = $16.50). The Twelve Hour Slow Roasted Pork (Three sized portions $5.00 - $16.50) looked like a real winner. Don't forget to try the Corn Bread With Honey Butter ($2.00) as a side. Other side dishes that stood out were the Crispy Yucca tossed with Citrus & Olive Oil (3.75 / 7.50), Roasted Yams with Andouille Sausage ($4.75/$9.50), and the Slow Cooked Collard Greens with Smoked Turkey ($4.50/$9.00).
We declined on dessert because of the time, but if/when I return to Minneapolis, I would like to go back to Brasa again and sample their Apple & Olive Oil Streusel Cake with Dulce de Leche ($5.50).
All in all, a fine meal awaits at Brasa Rotisserie.