PRETTY BIRD: A HOT CHICKEN EPIPHANY.

AuthorSctsich, Chris
PositionSMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT - Column

Salt Lake City -- Perspective has always been important to chef Viet Pham. After his run on Food Network Star five years ago, he found himself with some free time to explore the food scene in Los Angeles. It was there he tried Memphis hot chicken for the first time and acquired the perspective that would lead to his newest restaurant, PRETTY BIRD.

"One of the things I always look for when I go out and eat is perspective," said Pham, owner and chef at Pretty Bird. "You want perspective because those are the things I can really take away, the thing that can really inspire me to cook better, use different ingredients, different techniques. We all know what fried chicken tastes like.... but when I was at this place, I ate this chicken and I was just blown away. I just had this epiphany, I told myself one day I'm going to open up a fried chicken restaurant."

Pretty Bird is Pham's take on a Nashville style hot chicken restaurant, but instead of the traditional emphasis on heat, Pham worked on the spices for five years to nail the right ratios that would deliver complex flavor to interplay with the various levels of heat you can order (mild, medium, hot and hot behind--a play on the often-used kitchen phrase).

"Don't come here and expect a challenge as far as the heat goes," says Pham. "We want spice, but at the same time we also want to focus on flavor and complexity. The hardest part about blending these spices is finding the harmony and balance between them, where it's hot but it also marries in with the all the other spices without muting them out."

The 525-square-foot space on Regent Street, behind the new performing arts...

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