Viet Pham’s Pretty Bird is Pretty Good

When I first visited Pretty Bird last year, it seemed that everyone was talking about chef Viet Pham’s new Nashville-style hot chicken eatery in Salt Lake City. And for good reason — Viet is probably the closest thing Utah has to a TV “celebrity chef,” having competed on several Food Network shows, even beating Iron Chef Bobby Flay — TWICE. And the hot-sweet, crispy-crunchy chicken is soooo good.  I planned to blog about Pretty Bird, but I wasn’t happy with the photos I took of my sandwich (Since the restaurant’s 12-seat interior was packed, I got takeout and ended up taking the photo in my car.). I figured I’d be back to get better pix later.

Well, a few weeks ago, I was on Regent Street in downtown Salt Lake, entering the “Wicked” ticket lottery, and realized that procrastination in NOT a good thing. I put off buying tickets to this fabulous musical until they were pretty much sold out, so my last option was to put my name in for the nightly drawing, where 10 names would be chosen to buy “Wicked” tickets for $25 each. Since the Eccles Theatre’s Black Box office is next door to Pretty Bird, the tantalizing aroma of spicy fried chicken was wafting through the air. I enjoyed the chance to say hello to Viet, who seems to be on the premises 24/7.  (Viet even added his name to the lottery, with the intention of letting me buy his tickets if he won.)  I remembered that I’d forgotten to write about Pretty Bird. I’m still not thrilled with my chicken photos, but here we are.

Opening their Salt Lake City restaurant, Forage, in 2009, Viet Pham and Bowman Brown built a reputation for complex, creative cuisine. One of their 14-course tasting meals could take three hours and set you back $100 or more. They were named James Beard Award semi-finalists and among Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs. When the Food Network came calling, Viet excelled at competitions such as “The Next Food Network Star,” “Iron Chef America,” and “Extreme Chef.” He had a flair for innovation — beef-fat ice cream, anyone? — and could handle squid and sea urchin as easily as the rest of us make peanut butter sandwiches. (For a past interview with Viet, click here.)

After Forage closed, there were rumors that Viet was opening another restaurant. But instead fancy fine dining with exotic ingredients, he’s pared things down to a minimal menu: Nashville-style hot chicken with a choice of three sides.

When your only two entrees are fried chicken and a fried chicken sandwich, the chicken had better be something special. And it is — a crispy, crunchy coating with your choice of heat level. Inside, the chicken is tender and juicy. Since opening Pretty Bird, Pham beat Bobby Flay in a hot chicken cook-off, so what does that tell you?

A fried chicken sandwich — boneless chicken thigh stuffed in a sturdy buttered bun, with “pretty bird” sauce, tart cider slaw and pickles, is $10.50. As a combo, it’s $15 with a drink and choice of side —the tart, purple-cabbage cider slaw, crispy crinkle-cut fries, and one “seasonal” item — when I visited in February, it was a warm bean salad.

About the Pretty Bird sauce — when I saw the tan color, I half-expected a riff on Utah fry sauce.  But instead, there’s a bright lemony flavor with a hint of spice.

A Quarter Bird (choice of a breast-and-wing, or a leg-and-thigh) served with bread and pickles is $9.50. I’ve heard the sandwich is the most popular, but I love the quarter bird. Both options are generously portioned — enough for two meals, really. (Sorry; the above photo doesn’t really do justice to the portion size.) I had one half for dinner, the rest for lunch the next day. That was when I found the slice of bread at the bottom of the takeout box. What a way to soak up some of those flavorful juices.

About the heat levels: I like spicy flavor instead of mouth-searing heat, so I chose the “mild” seasoning, which has just a hint of both heat and sweet. You can also order medium, hot and “hot behind,” a warning phrase yelled out in restaurant kitchens when someone is carrying hot food. I’m not sure how Pretty Bird’s chicken compares with the hot chicken served in Nashville, but I’m sure both involve a lot of cayenne pepper.

This is not the first time that Utah has capitalized on a Southern fried chicken dish. Back in the 1950s, Pete Harman gave Colonel Harlan Sanders’ specialty the name “Kentucky Fried Chicken” and put it on the menu of his Salt Lake City restaurant. We know how that turned out.

I’ve often thought that good cooking shouldn’t have to depend on a lot of high-end ingredients or eclectic combinations. Sometimes, the mark of a great chef is how they execute a classic with skill and care, and maybe a touch of personal creativity. I’d say that Pretty Bird proves this point.

Viet’s back story  would make a great movie. His parents, Hiep and Hoa Pham, fled Vietnam by boat when it fell to the Communists after the Vietnam War, and Viet was born in a refugee camp on an island in Malaysia. They named him Viet, and his brother Nam, in memory of their native country. Struggling for survival, his father chopped down trees to build a treehouse where the family could shelter. The family eventually immigrated to America, sharing a townhouse with three other families in Chicago. They moved to California to run a catering truck, which eventually building up a fleet of food trucks.

Viet initially got into the software industry, but quit to go to culinary school. After honing his skills under chef Laurent Gras at San Francisco’s acclaimed Fifth Floor, he came out to Utah to open a Provo restaurant. He was soon butting heads with the owner, who was too “bottom-line driven,” according to Viet. He and his sous chef, Bowman Brown, were both fired just as the economy was tanking in the late 2000s. Realizing it would be hard to get hired when many restaurants were closing their doors — and realizing that Utah was in better shape financially than California — they took a chance and opened their own small Salt Lake City restaurant in 2009. Forage was a fairly new and trendy concept for Utah — one fixed-price menu each night, based on organic, in-season ingredients. It became a hit, and the two were named James Beard Award semi-finalists and among Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs. Soon Viet was appearing on  Food Network competitions such as “The Next Food Network Star,” “Iron Chef America,” and “Extreme Chef.”

With Pretty Bird firmly established and selling out many nights, it will be interesting to see what Viet’s next move will be.

For past posts on Viet Pham:

https://chewandchat.com/2012/08/utah-chef-on-food-networks-extreme-chef.html

https://chewandchat.com/2013/04/viet-pham-the-next-food-network-star.html

https://chewandchat.com/2013/01/utah-chef-viet-pham-beats-bobby-flay-in-iron-chef.html