Pollos a la Brasa, Polleria Fina Estampa

Pollos a la Brasa, Polleria Fina Estampa



We saw this little spot on Montrose and spontaneously stopped in.

There were a few things on the menu we’d never had before, or at least so named: chicharron de pescado (based on what I could suss out of the Spanish explanation, it’s basically fish fingers), jalea (fried seafood with a red onion pickle – that sounds pretty good), chaufa (Sino-Peruvian fried rice) and alfasores (a cookie sandwich filled with cajeta – got one of these for dessert; it was good).

We ordered a whole “Pollo a la Brasa,” which was billed as coming with “papas fritas y su espectacular ensalada.”

The salad was about as unspectacular and pedestrian as one could imagine (go ahead, imagine salad at its lowest: iceberg and pulpy tomatoes, right? That’s what it was).

The fries were equally disappointing. Ironic that Peru is regarded as the original home of the spud. These limp, lame excuses were precut and previously frozen and not a bit crispy. Bad raw material; bad execution.

The whole chicken, however, was fantastic. I’m not saying it was substantially more superb than many hole-in-the-wall chicken places in our town, but it prompted The Wife to observe, “See, this is why I never order chicken in a fancy restaurant. It never tastes better than this.” Moist through and through, with some perky acidic notes (probably from the marinade), good textures, delicious. Total cost: about $15.

Pollos a la Brasa, Polleria Fina Estampa
2937 W. Montrose
Chicago, IL 60618
773.478.5506

David Hammond wrote:
We saw this little spot on Montrose and spontaneously stopped in.

There were a few things on the menu we’d never had before, or at least so named: ...jalea (fried seafood with a red onion pickle – that sounds pretty good)...

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Believe me, after trying jalea, at least the version we had, it's not easily forgotten.

This is my neck of the woods, and we've had an extraordinary explosion of S. American and Mexican chicken places open in the past couple years. I literally think there are 15 within a 1.5 mile radius of my house (including this place).

One thing that 90% of them have in common is exactly what you described, David: excellent chicken and not much else.

This is in the space that used to be Mr Pollo, right? I've always suspected that Polleria Fina Estampa was just a renaming.

Same space as Mr. Pollo, which was Ecuadoran. The equipment was hauled out after Mr. Pollo closed. I suspect that it was moved to what was a new location on Diversey. Pollos a la Brasa signage claims to be Peruvian.

Has moved into a larger space across the street and in the next block that formerly housed Tortilla de Oro.

Fina Estampa
2916 W Montrose Ave.