VENUE your arts and entertainment guide

cassava, then fried crispy golden brown. Delicious and satisfying, this creation that might be considered second cousin to a potato empanada, can make a light lunch.

Peruvian flute music and blownup photos of Machu Picchu set the tone in the large, bright glass-fronted dining room. Parking is no problem.

The Coronado family’s emphasis on freshness, cooking to order, and efficient service elevates Pollito con Papas above fast food to a realm that might be termed “quick food,” making it a popular lunch spot for folks from Kirtland Air Force Base and others in the Southeast neighborhood with a tightly structured lunch hour.

Whichever version of chicken you order, it will arrive juicy and permeated with a savory marinade inflected with cumin. At $9.99, the No. 7, half a rotisserie chicken with fries or a pyramid of cilantro rice, aji and marinated onion, makes a satisfying and delicious lunch. Add the distinctively sweet Peruvian Inca Cola ($2) and a deeply caramelized flan that shimmies on the plate ($4), and you’ve got a feast.

Or, if you call ahead (the Coronados recommend you do this) and want to take supper home, you can stop by and pick up a whole rotisserie chicken with fries and aji. When it is available, you can request another condiment, the pica, a more peppery red sauce with a pleasant bite.

Also available is Peruvian chicha, $2 a glass, a very sweet purple corn drink that is no doubt nutritious as well. This version of chicha is nothing like the fermented white beverage I was offered — it would have been very rude to refuse — on my rain forest journey.