Review: La Ceiba Bistro


photo by tj turner

Hector Ruiz, chef/owner of Café Ena, Rincon 38, and La Fresca, has created another Latin fusion restaurant in southeast Minneapolis, and those with fond memories of his now-shuttered Spanish-Caribbean mainstay El Meson will welcome La Ceiba. The new eatery is an unassuming sit-down joint that runs high on big flavors: a citrusy seafood ceviche with tostones offers cool, bright tones; and for the main event a paella Valenciana made to order (it takes 40 minutes) with saffron, chicken, pork, and seafood that’s huge but impossible to stop eating. The camarones enchilados deliver a creole note, a fine example of the multi-national hodgepodge of a regional cuisine historically underrepresented here in the North. The wine list features well-curated bottles from Spain and South America—many are half-price all day Mondays through Wednesdays. • laceibabistro.com

Quinton Skinner is a writer and editor based in the Twin Cities. A former senior editor of Minnesota Monthly, he held the same post at Twin Cities METRO and 
has written for major national and local publications. He is the co-founder of Logosphere Storysmiths and author of several novels, including his latest, Odd One Out.