Nando's PERi-PERi Open in Wheaton

Nando’s PERi-PERi, the South African-Portuguese restaurant known for its spicy flame-grilled chicken, opened its newest location on Dec. 12 at the Westfield Wheaton Plaza in Wheaton, according to a news release.

During the opening weekend, Nando’s donated 100 percent of all proceeds directly to the Albert Einstein High School.

“As our neighbor in Wheaton, Albert Einstein High School is helping Montgomery County students discover their potential and prepare for college,” said Burton Heiss, CEO of Nando’s PERi-PERi USA. “We are delighted to support Einstein’s student programs as we continue to grow our footprint in Maryland.”

Nando’s donations will help fund the public school’s visual arts programs and purchase of a scoreboard for the school football stadium.

Nando’s, which operates restaurants in 23 nations from Australia to Zimbabwe, first moved to the United States in 2008. It set up shop in Washington, DC, and, since then, has opened more than 20 restaurants in and around the nation’s capital, Maryland, Virginia and Chicago.

PERi-PERi, or African Bird’s Eye Chili, is the heart and soul of the Nando’s experience.

“We marinate our chicken in PERi-PERi for at least 24 hours, so the flavor goes right through to the bone,” Heiss explained. “Then we grill it over an open flame it and baste it with PERi-PERi sauce to our customers’ preferred spice. That’s what makes our chicken so addictive.”

With thousands of pieces of original works of art that are a constant reminder of where the restaurant came from, Nando’s has become the largest collector of South African contemporary art in the world.

The new Wheaton restaurant is no exception, with original South African paintings displayed beneath a dramatic ceiling made from interlocking hexagons of reclaimed shipping crates.

There are more than 600 pieces of original South African art in Nando’s U.S. restaurants and more than 8,000 pieces worldwide.