Could Nashville Hot Chicken Taste Any Better? Chef Viet Pham Thinks So

As a child, chef Viet Pham was more interested in McDonald’s than his mother’s beef pho, the national dish of Vietnam, or banh xeo, sizzling crepes flavored with coconut milk, turmeric, pork, bean sprouts and herbs. 

Born in a Malaysian refugee camp, Pham moved with his family to the suburbs of Chicago when he was 8 months old. Today, he owns four Nashville-style chicken restaurants called Pretty Bird in the Salt Lake City area. Pretty Bird was named one of the best fried chicken spots in America by USA Today and the best fried chicken in Utah by Food Network. Pham, a French-trained chef, defeated Bobby Flay twice on Iron Chef America.        

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Pham’s story begins after his parents left Vietnam by boat in 1978. They didn’t know if they could ever return home, so they named him “Viet” and his older brother “Nam.” It was a suggestion from his grandparents, who claimed, “That way, he’ll never forget his country.”

After arriving in America, the family settled in the suburbs of Chicago. For Pham, it wasn’t easy growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood. “We were bullied because of our name and our ethnicity,” he recalls. “I thought if we were like the other kids, we wouldn’t be picked on.”

That’s why he started eating at McDonald’s, hoping “I’d be just like them. The only time we could have McDonald’s was on Fridays, my parents’ payday.” 

The family relocated again to the Bay Area in California, where his parents started a food truck catering business. “They woke up at 3:30 a.m. to prep, served breakfast and lunch to local businesses, went home and got ready for the next day,” Pham says. Watching his parents struggle encouraged him to study and work harder. “It shaped me for who I am. They came with nothing, didn’t know anybody,” he says. “Through hard work and perseverance, they made a living and supported us.”

Pretty Bird Hot Chicken

Bonjwing Lee

After a career in finance, he attended culinary school, training under award-winning chef Laurent Gras. After opening Forage in Salt Lake City, Pham won Food & Wine’s best chef award. It wasn’t until a Los Angeles chef introduced Pham to Nashville hot chicken that he discovered that chicken wasn’t just comfort food. “It blew my mind,” he recalls. 

He developed his own take on the Southern classic, plying friends with tastes as he tweaked his recipe. “I had a portable electric turkey fryer in my Prius,” he says. “I’d drive to friends who owned bars and cooked for their staff in the back of a parking lot.”