Brasas Peru offers a taste of Peru via Perkins Road

Growing up in Peru, Giannina Chavez says there was always something to eat. She’d start her mornings in Lima with large breakfast spreads, and filling portions were always shared through dinner.

“We are big eaters,” she says. “I remember coming back from school and thinking, ‘Oh my god, what has my mom cooked?’”

Today, Chavez shares her love for her homeland’s cuisine through Brasas Peru, the Perkins Road eatery she owns with her brother, Renzo Ibanez, and sister-in-law, Carolina Ayala. The menu is rooted in the Peruvian cuisine she was raised on, with most of the dishes inspired by family recipes and traditional staples.

There’s sweet, smoky charcoal chicken—one of the country’s most popular dishes—with whole chickens marinated for two days and cooked in Peruvian rotisserie ovens. Or, sample spaghetti noodles coated in huancaína, a peppery yellow sauce from the Andean region.

But don’t be surprised to find other influences. A lot of Peruvian food has diverse flavors, Chavez says, thanks to an influx of transplants and immigrants coming to the South American country. Sample arroz chaufa, a fried rice dish with Chinese influences; and fresh ceviches, spiced up with Peruvian peppers and studded with roasted corn kernels.

Some days, Chavez and her team will move tables around and welcome local salsa classes, sweeping diners into other authentic experiences.

“I wanted to give Baton Rouge something new and fresh,” Chavez says about opening her restaurant back in 2023. “It’s the capital of Louisiana, so it needs to have a little bit of everything, cultural-wise.”

Chavez says business ebbs and flows, but her customers tell her they appreciate having a new kind of cuisine in town. Baton Rouge has long lacked a sit-down Peruvian restaurant, and some have never had a chance to try the food before. Chavez says Brasas Peru is also great for aspiring travelers to whet their appetites with the country’s signature dishes.

She encourages locals to support restaurant owners who are trying to share parts of their heritage.

“(Food) can give you the magic of traveling to a place without physically going,” she says. “People should appreciate having diversity here.”

Getting a taste of another country’s customs might be as easy as stopping into a restaurant within city limits. No plane ticket needed.

---

This article was originally published in the March 2025 issue of 225 Magazine.