Awesome Eats @ DeLiz Charcoal Chicken

From the moment you open the door and step inside the small eatery that is the DeLiz restaurant you are greeted with the wonderful charcoal grill smell that makes it almost impossible not to order the stuff. Charcoal chicken lovers unite!

This is not your ordinary grilled chicken found at fast food establishments around town, this is the highly aromatic and tender Peruvian charcoal chicken cooked on a spit over the hot coals. The oven was shipped to Fredericksburg from, where else, Lima, Peru by the Panana family.

Rosario and her husband Cesar opened the restaurant along with their children and prepare allof the made-from-scratch Peruvian dishes using family recipes brought with them from Callao, Peru.

The marinade is a family secret but Cesar explains that this is one reason their bird is so moist, juicy and flavorful on the inside, and why the charcoal-kissed outer skin is so delicious. They also sell whole chickens to feed a family, or like I might do, invite friends over and just sit in on my own grill.

“There are many Peruvian charcoal chicken places in Northern Virginia but very few of the owners are actually from Peru. We are and we wanted to bring the real deal to the Fredericksburg area where we thought the people would enjoy it”, said Cesar. “My whole family works in the restaurant preparing and serving fresh, authentic and hard-to-find Peruvianfood using our family recipes from Peru”.

When you order the cebiche, it is made with fresh fish, cilantro, and slivers of red onions then cooked in a bath of fresh-squeezed limes and served with tortilla chips. This is how it is made in Peru, at least for the last several thousand years or so.

The Panana family come from a little seaport town called Callao which is only a few minutes from Lima, so Cesar is the master chef when it comes to seafood. Another dish on the menu is a fried shrimp and fish dish called "Jalea a la chalca" which is coated with citrus and cilantro which makes the seafood pop.

The handmade alfajor is not to be missed for the sweet-eater. You had best buy at least two, one to eat and one to take home. Almost like an English shortbread with caramel in the middle then dusted with powdered sugar, I call them a Peruvian Oreo.

Like an Oreo, these are best eaten with a glass of cold milk. Most of the ingredients DeLiz uses come from Peru and canonly be found at specialty markets far away from Fredericksburg.

DeLiz Peruvian Charcoal Chicken is the real deal (if you have travelled to Peru you will agree) and when you visit them at 5051 Jefferson Davis Hwy. Fredericksburg, Virginia, tell the Panana family you have come for their Awesome Eats as read in Fredericksburg Patch.