It seems like the cayenne pepper-scented dust has finally settled on the rapid expansion of hot chicken joints in Utah. With the exception of Savory Fund's decision to replace all Crack Shack locations with Houston TX Hot Chicken, the local franchises of most of these poultry purveyors have largely done well in the Utah market. At this point, I've tried all of Utah's hot chicken imports and found them all to be a decent place for fried chicken fans to test the limits of their capsaicin tolerance.

To get a proper bead on this conquest, my true north has always been Pretty Bird ( prettybirdchicken.com ). Chef Viet Pham's successful fast-casual spot not only predated the hot chicken boom, but it has yet to be bested by any out-of-state franchise. That said, here's how our local franchises

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