St. Paul’s restaurant scene is changing.

Our institutions, those family-run eateries that have been serving spaghetti and steaks to generations of city dwellers, are still going strong.

But.

Lately, it feels like there’s a new generation of restaurateurs moving in, and it feels like they are creating their own kind of legacy eateries.

The latest duo, Thomas Boemer and Nick Rancone of Southern food mecca Revival, instinctively understand the Saintly City and its small-town, big-town, everyone-knows-everyone vibe. It helps that Rancone graduated from Cretin-Derham Hall High School, and that Boemer, who was born in the Twin Cities but grew up in North Carolina, knows a thing or two about Southern hospitality.

The restaurant, which opened in late December in the old Cheeky Monkey space on Selby Avenue in St. Paul, best displays that vibe when Boemer and Rancone are in house, meeting and greeting friends and customers, new and old.

And the food — giant, steaming towers of fried chicken, platters of melt-in-your-mouth brisket and pork belly, sweet and tender collard greens — all meant to be shared, is perfect for making people feel at home.

The original Revival, which opened two years ago in South Minneapolis, resides in the space that housed Rancone and Boemer’s first restaurant, Corner Table (which moved a few blocks down Nicollet) and it’s about half the size of the St. Paul location.

The new space, which includes a bigger kitchen, has given Boemer and chef de cuisine Dan Zeroth room to stretch and expand into a serious barbecue program. Related Articles Game on! Tailgating takeout ideas for game day

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The star of that show is clearly the brisket, sourced from Creekstone Farms in Kansas, a company that hand selects its black angus cattle and even processes them in a humane way, using a system designed by the very famous Temple Grandin.

That special brisket is smoked in a Southern Pride smoker, which can hold up to 21 briskets at a time and uses whole logs of wood for smoking.

The result, Boemer insists, and we concur, is tender, flavorful, perfectly smoked brisket ($19 with cornbread and a side) that is honestly head and shoulders above any other we’ve tried. Glistening but not overly fatty, tender but not mushy, seasoned aggressively but not overly, and kissed with a black barbecue sauce that is unlike traditional barbecue sauce in the best way — it’s only slightly sweet, crazy complex, a little spicy and a lot umami.

You can also order that brisket chopped and in sandwich form ($12), served on Texas toast and topped with a tangy slaw. It’s a really, really good sandwich.

The pork belly ($19 with cornbread and a side) is a cut of the belly that includes some rib meat, and it’s really not something you see very often. The pork is just slightly smoky and tender, but be warned: If you aren’t a fan of really fatty meat, it can be a little off-putting.

If that’s the case, better to order the pork shoulder ($16 with cornbread and a side), which offers much of the same flavor but more meat to sink your teeth into.

The other major new element at the St. Paul Revival is the snappy, zippy hot link ($13), which is made in house and served topped with burnt end chili (you can also order a bowl of this for $10, which makes a delicious lunch), cheese sauce and pork rinds. It’s listed under sandwiches, but it’s definitely more of a fork-and-knife (and maybe bib) kind of deal.

In the appetizer department, the herbsaint garlic clams ($13) are St. Paul-only, and the heaping bowl of garlicky, buttery shellfish could feed a party of six as a starter.

Most of the rest of the menu items are the same as or slight variations of the Minneapolis menu. If you haven’t been there, some of our other favorites in the appetizer section include addictive johnny cakes ($8), which are like thick, slightly sweet cornmeal pancakes, stuffed with a thin slice of ham and a little melty white cheddar; some of the best pimento cheese in the Twin Cities ($13, served with Texas toast and giant mounds of pickled vegetables); and tangy fried green tomatoes ($7), served with a pickle sauce that very much resembles thousand island dressing.

Of course, the fried chicken ($10 for a two-piece, $16 for a half bird or $28 for a whole bird) that made Revival famous is as good as ever. Order a whole bird and it comes piled high on a plate — a tower of crisp-tender, comforting, as good as the Southern grandma you wish you had makes, awaiting tiny drizzles of any of the delicious house-made sauces on your table.

If you like it spicy, order the Tennessee hot, a Southern delicacy in which the chicken is bathed in a fiery, bright red sauce that somehow doesn’t render that perfect crisp chicken soggy.

And don’t forget the burger ($13), which is best in class. House-ground, grass-fed short-rib beef, with the addition of 20 percent brisket, split into two patties. American cheese. House-made pickles. A swipe of mayo. It needs nothing else. And once you’ve had it, it’s hard to crave any other cheeseburger.

Sandwiches and barbecue platters come with one side, but we have generally ordered more for the table. They’re all good, but the best of the bunch are a creamy, peppery mac and cheese ($6), smooth-as-silk white cheddar grits ($5.50), spiced-up black-eyed peas ($4.50), sweet, succulent collard greens ($4.50) and the least slimy okra ($6) we’ve ever tasted.

Though portions here are giant, it’s worth saving room for pie. Old-fashioned graham-cracker-crusted banana cream is delicious, but so have been others that we’ve tried: in particular, a coconut cream with a macaroon crust and a butterscotch with a salty pretzel crust.

There’s a full bar here, unlike the Minneapolis location. Revival’s specialty cocktails are generally refreshing and complex, but not so complicated that you’re eating your appetizer by the time your drink gets to the table. If you are a fan of sweet tea, by all means try it with bourbon, a fun drink created by head bartender Nate McLemore Raczkowski, formerly of Hola Arepa in Minneapolis. The drink is available on tap, so it’s as fast to order as a beer.

Though there is so much to like about Revival, there are a few things that could be improved. First, it’s noisy. A decibel reading found the dining room to be at jackhammer levels at some points during a recent meal. Lunch is quieter, if you’re averse to a boisterous atmosphere.

Second, the tables are very close together. Expect to hear what your neighbors are talking about, in detail.

Third, although the brisket is probably our favorite new menu item, it would be remiss of us to leave out that during one visit, it was noticeably drier than on others. We’re chalking that up to a new crew and a very busy night.

Boemer and Rancone are already planning their next venture — another restaurant in St. Paul. This one, which will involve cooking in a giant, wood-fired hearth in the new Keg and Case development, has been described as the pair’s dream project. It says a lot that they decided to build it in our city.

Welcome to St. Paul, guys. We couldn’t be happier that you’re here.

Revival: 525 Selby Ave., St. Paul; 651-340-2355; revivalfriedchicken.com