The Early Word on The Rookery and La Fresca

This week in Week in Reviews, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine's Stephanie March takes a first look at The Rookery, the small plates/cocktails sister restaurant to Travail (they also share a physical space), and gives it a glowing review. The review focuses more on describing the dishes and drinks from the ever-changing menu, but it sounds like they were all winners, and especially the octopus with gnocchi and chorizo. On the experience as a whole:

"The menu at Rookery is different from Travail, but obviously follows the same form. We're talking small servings with constructed and focused ingredients. Any one of these plates could traverse the divide and play on the other menu. As you'd expect, there's a lot of fun in these dishes."

Meanwhile, over at City Pages, Emily Weiss pays a visit to Hector Ruiz's new Kingfield restaurant La Fresca (his third restaurant, in addition to Cafe Ena and Rincón 38), which "nails it." Of particular note on the "nouveau Mexican" menu are the small plates, which are paced perfectly (no small feat). Weiss is also impressed by how fresh and non-fried everything is:

"As many ingredients as La Fresca's dishes involve, the food still doesn't feel over-complicated or muddied. It's all, as the name implies, very fresh. There are bright dashes of acidity, crisp herbs, palatable heat, and a noticeable lack of grease."

Finally, at TC Daily Planet, Jeremy Iggers starts his review with a major disclaimer: he's a fan of Hector Ruiz, he's gotten to know him a bit, and Iggers' niece works in the kitchen at one of Ruiz's restaurants. Okay, so all that said, the review is again more descriptive of what's on the menu, lauding the "meeting of creativity and tradition in evidence throughout the menu" and the "impressive" entrees.
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