Pretty Bird Hot Chicken, Downtown

The secret of a great-tasting, spicy-hot chicken sandwich is finding a balance with the heat and flavor. “That takes the most skill, because heat can overpower the taste,” said Viet Pham, founder and owner of Pretty Bird Hot Chicken, which will open a location at 1775 Prospector Ave. in a few weeks. “Since we put so much work in sourcing amazing chicken and the way we fry it, we have to make sure the complex mixture of spices we put on it won’t be overwhelmed by the heat. Because at the end of the day, anyone can go onto Amazon and buy Carolina Reaper Pepper Powder or habanero pepper powder and put it on your chicken.” Pham, who opened the first Pretty Bird Hot Chicken restaurant with his wife Alexis in Salt Lake City in 2018, said his background in fine dining helped forge his understanding of flavors, textures and the other complexities of fried chicken.