Fried Chicken Sensation Makes a Bold Move Into the Suburbs

Revival, the restaurant that kicked off a fried chicken revolution in the Twin Cities will open in the remade Texa Tonka mall in St. Louis Park spring 2021. “A first ring suburb makes sense,” said Nick Rancone, who owns the Revival restaurants along with chef Thomas Boemer. The menu will hew closely to that of the original location in Minneapolis’ Kingfield neighborhood, with fried chicken front and center, bringing along a few Southern sides to the party.

The suburban move is a calculated one, “Population and density-wise, it has a lot in common with Kingfield,” said Rancone by phone as he was prepping an avalanche of Thanksgiving take-out orders at the restaurants. The Texa Tonka mall leans into midcentury modern design and Rancone’s a big fan of the atomic-chic looks. The new spot will continue with Revival’s tradition of custom-made wallpaper in the design, and there’s a nicely sized patio for when warmer weather returns.

Revival’s beverage director Aynsley Jones will be putting more cocktails on tap than beers. Although, there will be plenty of beer, it will mostly be sold by the bottle. Also in stock will be the small producer wines Rancone has become known for, including Jazzy Belle, the restaurant’s signature bubbly.

It’s been a busy weekend for the Revival crew, when asked why he was taking time out of the intensity of one of the busiest days of the year to announce this news, Rancone said simply, “We needed a win.”

Katie Cannon

On Saturday night, Revival’s custom Lang smoker had been stolen from behind their vacant restaurant, Corner Table. The behemoth, black smoker weighs over two tons and was secured with multiple chains. “So many locks,” said Rancone. Someone must have spent hours grinding through them, and somehow no neighbors noticed, or reported any mischief. On Sunday, when Boemer went to the restaurant and saw that the smoker, the chef’s pride and joy, missing, he took to social media. The post went viral and yesterday they received a call from someone who saw a monolith of a barbecue trailer parked in front of their neighbor’s house that hadn’t been present the day before. Subtle, this thing is not. It has since been returned to Boemer.

In one more bit of good news, Revival is working on cocktail kits that will be available soon for the holiday season. Whether they will be able to include alcohol in them, remains to be seen, as Minnesota continue to lag behind on allowing cocktail-to-go sales.

Revival currently has three locations, the original in Kingfield, one on Selby Avenue in St. Paul, and another specializing in smoked meats at the Keg & Case food hall on West 7th.

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