Revival St Louis Park

Way, way back in June of 2021, the St Louis Park location of Revival opened in the Texa-Tonka Strip mall on Minnetonka Boulevard in St Louis Park. We've visited the original location in Minneapolis pretty regularly for fried chicken and were thrilled when this outpost opened much closer to home base.  

The room is quite large and open with exposed beams in the ceiling. There is a large bar on one side and standard seating on the other side f a half divider wall. The patio is spacious, but offers little shade, so it's toasty on hot days. 

On this visit we stopped for a coupe sandwiches on a Sunday afternoon. John had the Southern style fried chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato and pickle on a toasted bun. This is a big sandwich! The chicken reading is the same as on the fired chicken and just th right out of crisp with perfectly done chicken inside. 

I've been meaning to try their burger for ages, but the fried chicken usually wins out for me. I finally tried it and was not disappointed. It is a thin patty burger with American cheese, mayo and pickles on a toasted, buttered bun. This was perfectly done and I think I'd get the double next time around. 

They also feature their famous Southern Fried Chicken with plenty of sides. If you have not tried their chicken, be sure to check it out. They also offer a Tennessee Hot chicken for spice fiends. 

The service is quick and efficient. Note, they have instituted a 6% service charge to support back of house employees. Parking is plentiful and online ordering for carryout if also available. 

Revival 
8008 Minnetonka Blvd
St Louis Park, MN 55426
Phone: (952) 303-4125
https://www.revivalrestaurants.com/locations/st-louis-park

Bonchon Korean Fried Chicken

I noticed while shopping up in Maple Grove recently, that the Bonchon Korean Fried chicken recently opened. The website said they were in the midst of a soft opening, so we visited for a weekday dinner.

We started with the fried rice with eggs, onions, red bell pepper and Bonchon soy garlic sauce. I didn’t care for the bell peppers in the fried rice, but John liked it a lot.

We ordered a medium order of the wings (20 pieces) with half and half of two sauces, the soy garlic and spicy sauces. The spicy was actually spicy too. The chicken was very juicy and tender and I really liked the thin and crispy breading on the wings. Koren fried chicken is delicious. Of course, I don’t’ think I’ve found a type of fried chicken I do not like!

Cole slaw comes with the wings or you can choose pickled radish instead. The slaw was really good and helped tone down the spice of the wings.

The wings are available with only drumsticks, boneless wings or a combo of wings and drumsticks. They also offer a  variety of Asian and Asian fusion dishes on the menu ranging from buns, udon noodles soup and tons of other options.

The service was quick and efficient. It is a rather small sit down restaurant, but you can call in an order to go or get it delivered through Door Dash or similar delivery services.

Note: Bonchon is a chain. In Minnesota, there are additional locations in Uptown Minneapolis, Dinkytown and Mall of America with more locations coming soon.



Bonchon
11708 Elm Creek Blvd N
Maple Grove, MN 55369
Phone: (763) 760-7100
https://bonchon.com/korean-fried-chicken-maple-grove-mn/

Revival - revisit for Tennessee hot chicken

John and I went to Revival recently for lunch. My second visit and his first visit. One thing to note, even though it was a Saturday, we arrived about 11 am and it was not that busy yet. We only waited 15 minutes for a table. It become a lot busier by the time we left.

I have read so much about the Tennessee hot chicken I was excited to try it. The people at the table next to us warned me it was really, really spicy, but I got it anyway. It IS really spicy! No extra hot sauce needed! If you remove some of the skin it is a lot less spicy. That said, I enjoyed it, I ate it all, but I am not sure I would order it again. If I want spicy chicken I'll order their regular fried chicken and add one of their hot sauces to it.

John ordered the two piece white meat fried chicken. He enjoyed it a lot and said it was tender and juicy. I think this is probably the best fried chicken in the Twin Cities. John liked the vinegar pepper and sweet potato habanero sauces.

The biscuits are perfect. So flaky, crispy and light. The sorghum butter is sweet and delicious. Don't miss these biscuits!

We also ordered the macaroni and cheese for our second side. The crisp cheese on top was the best part, but the creamy cheese mixture below was quite good as well.

The service was very good, rather quick and we were in and out in no time at all. I only wish the restaurant was larger so it was not so difficult to get into.

Here's a link to my first visit to Revival in November:
http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2015/11/revival-with-apps-at-lowbrow.html


Revival
4257 Nicollet Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55409
(612) 345-4516
http://revivalmpls.com/

Revival with apps at The Lowbrow

Stephanie and I decided to follow the crowds and try to get into Revival for the fried chicken everyone has been raving about. We arrived at about 5pm on a Saturday night, hoping it was early enough to keep the wait time to a minimum. No such luck. We were quoted an hour. Be prepared to wait. I could look at the wait list after the fact and some people were waiting upwards of 2 hours. Crazy.

The waiting process is not too bad though, you out in your name and they send you a text message when they are ready for you. So, since the restaurant is VERY small and the waiting area very limited, you can go to other nearby establishments. We went over to The Lowbrow across the street. There is a coffee house across the street as well that would work well for waiting.

We got lucky and scored a spot at the bar at The Lowbrow. We ordered a couple of beers and checked out the menu. We went with the half order of nachos as we were starving. The chips tasted house made and the cheese was very oozy and melty in a good way. The salsa and guacamole were very delicious. Excellent bar food.

Here is the belle of the ball, the 2 piece Southern fried chicken. This stuff really was worth the wait. It was very crisp on the exterior and juicy on the interior. Simplicity at its finest. If you want to know what good friend chicken tastes like, try this, because really good fried chicken is hard to come by around here for some reason.

We also ordered the shrimp and grits with mushrooms and scallions. I kind of have a thing for shrimp and grits. This was good, but not dazzling like the chicken. I felt the grits were a bit on the watery side and not rich and creamy and cheesy enough. The shrimp were plentiful and cooked perfectly though. There were bits of bacon or pork belly in the bowl and that helped add some much needed sodium to each bite.

We also added the hush puppies. This was a lot of hush puppies for $4.50. We did not even come close to finishing these. Too much food. They had a nice hint of honey flavor and the sauce added a bit of spice if you wanted it. They exterior was crisp and the interior soft with a bot of crunch form the cornmeal. Very good hush puppies.

The service was quite good and very friendly. He made sure to check on us as needed and was very efficient, but not so much we felt rushed. Even though there were tons of people waiting. The room is cozy, but I found it to be pretty loud as there is not much to absorb sound. 

I know I have been slacking on my deals and discounts section and I hope to bring it back soon. There were no deals to be had here, as they don't need to discount a thing. Revival is mobbed and for good reason, The chicken is fantastic. I can't wait to go back and try the Tennessee hot chicken on my next visit. 

Revival
4257 Nicollet Ave S 
Minneapolis, MN 55409
(612) 345-4516
http://revivalmpls.com/