Chef Viet Pham Competing on New TV Cooking Shows with Bobby Flay and “Chef vs Wild”

Chef Viet Pham, owner of the Pretty Bird hot chicken restaurants, is competing on TWO TV cooking shows. On Sept. 26 “Chef vs. Wild” premieres on Hulu as “an extreme new culinary competition.” And, he will compete on Bobby Flay’s new Food Network cooking show, “Bobby’s Triple Threat,” that begins airing Sept. 27.

If I were a betting lady, I’d put my money on Viet to win at least one, if not both, TV cooking shows. He’s already done the Call of the Wild thing on the FN’s “Extreme Chef,” where he came up with dishes like fire-roasted cactus hash and sage-smoked trout. After proving his physical and culinary mettle, he ended up as the season’s runner-up.

Also he’s already beaten Bobby Flay in two different cooking shows — first on “Iron Chef,” And then on “Beat Bobby Flay,” with Nashville-style hot chicken from his Pretty Bird restaurants.

He also did well (although didn’t win the grand prize) on “The Next Food Network Star,” in 2013, where chefs competed in nerve-wracking challenges for their own TV cooking show.

So yeah, these current competitions aren’t his first rodeos. As our paths have crossed for more than a decade, I’ve thought of Viet as innovative, hard-working, and personable. All good qualities for success on TV cooking shows.

In a past interview, Viet told me his philosophy about TV cooking show competitions.

“First and foremost it a cooking competition, about your skills and how you are able to cook under pressure and your ingenuity. But it’s also a strategic game where you form alliances and play like a game of chess.”

ABOUT CHEF VS. WILD

According to the promotions for “Chef vs. Wild,” two world-class chefs are dropped into the wilderness to forage for ingredients and create a five-star meal. Kind of like “Survivor” meets “Top Chef.”

“The rules are: survive, gather, and plate,” the ad says.

A preview of Episode One says, “Chef Viet battles harsh weather and man-made disasters as he searches for an elusive ingredient; Chef Sammy’s relentless drive for ingredients leads to tensions boiling over; Elk loin and heart are the focus of this cook-off.”

BOBBY’S TRIPLE THREAT

Bobby Flay is the Food Network‘s king of throwdowns and showdowns. Maybe he’s getting tired of being the guy standing over the hot stove, as this time he’s getting three top chefs to do the cooking. The contestant will have to cook against all three of these “Triple Threat” chefs in order to win $25,000.

Thinking about a Flay rematch reminds me of Viet’s “Iron Chef” -watching party in 2012, and the deafening cheers among his 100-plus friends, family and foodies when he was declared the winner against Bobby Flay. The camera showed his parents in the Kitchen Stadium audience. In an earlier interview, Viet told me he used to watch the original Japanese “Iron Chef” with his parents when he was a kid, so it was especially cool to have his mom and dad there to share his big moment.

VIET PHAM’S BACKGROUND

His parents, Hiep and Hoa Pham, were “boat people,” or citizens who fled Vietnam by boat when it fell to the Communists in the 1970s.  As refugees, they struggled for survival. Pham was born on an island in Malaysia, where his father chopped trees to build a treehouse for the family to live in. They eventually were able to immigrate to the United States, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Playing against the odds is something he’s used to doing. He and fellow chef Bowman Brown opened a small restaurant, Forage, in 2009, in the midst of the nation-wide recession. They served just one fixed-price meal each night, with the menu changing every day based on what was in season. They relied on local, organic ingredients. One of their 14-course “tasting meals” meal could set you back $100 or more — somewhat risky for cost-conscious Utahns.
Both Pham and Brown had culinary-school training and cooked in high-end California restaurants before coming to Provo to open a restaurant called Spark. But, their culinary philosophy differed from that of Spark’s owner.
“When things didn’t work out at Spark, I didn’t want to come home to California,” he said. “I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable and if I failed, at least I’d know I tried.  Forage was never about the money, but about doing what we loved and satisfying people’s palates.” 
Through Forage, Pham and Bowman Brown were named James Beard Award semi-finalists and among Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs.

When the Food Network came calling, Viet showed 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.

After Forage closed, there were rumors that Viet was opening another restaurant. But instead fine dining with exotic ingredients, Viet pared it down to a minimal menu: Nashville-style hot chicken with a choice of three sides. There are now four locations — downtown, Sugarhouse, Park City and Midvale.

At some point, I remember talking with Viet about cooking competitions. “I’ve always said that it’s not necessarily whether you win or not, but the people you meet along the way,” he told me.

I’m guessing he’s still meeting a lot of people along the way.