La Brasa Restaurant - Authentic Central American Food

La Brasa Restaurant has received write-ups in the Plain Dealer and Scene magazine for offering genuine Central American food; sounds like a place right up my alley, so I headed to the Stockyards area of the West Side to check it out. Located in a storefront at 6110 Denison Avenue, Cleveland Ohio (see map here) 44102, La Brasa is a clean but fairly unadorned spot. As you enter one side has 5 booth type tables and the other has the counter and kitchen. The menu is pictures above the counter with both Spanish and English descriptions, no prices are posted. Although they have worked to make the place clean, it has little actual character other than the American and El Salavordian flags in the front window. The menu is weighted towards chicken so my choices were few, either a cheese empanada or the fish dinner; I ordered the fish. Only later when I asked for a takeout menu did I learn that there were several vegetarian dinner options. For $9 I got 2 large fillets of tilapia pan fried with a large helping of yellow rice and a serving of salad/salsa. The fish was well prepared with a very mild yellow crust, what was lacking was a bit of seasoning, even a little salt and pepper prior to the cooking would have helped; especially with a mild fish like tilapia. The rice was good with a mild taste and the pigeon peas providing a bit of contrast. The highlight was the salad/salsa, which was a fine dice of tomatoes, onions and peppers; rather than a regular green pepper, these had some bite to them and gave the full meal some needed spice. The meal was sided with a caddy holding jalapenos, green and red salsas. The red salsa was very thin and had no heat at all, the green salsa which I was warned was hot had a fairly low heat factor but added much needed flavor to the meal. Overall the meal was good, but not exceptional, not a surprise for a restaurant that has made its reputation around a single item, at La Brasa its roasting chicken over charcoal; if you order something else it is a crap shoot. The decor is dive although the lady behind the counter was nice and friendly. If I ate chicken, I think La Brasa would be a strong recommendation, as it is, it is probably worth checking out as it is fairly unique in this area; we don't see many genuine Central American restaurants, and a good dive is always worth supporting.