Every day is a good day to order these Vietnamese chicken wings (but BOGO Wednesday)

The Vietnamese chicken wing might be the best kind of chicken wing.

Sorry, Buffalo.

Unlike their American counterpart, the classic Vietnamese style harnesses the umami power of fish sauce, the glorious liquid seasoning conjured from fermented fish and buckets of salt.

From street-side stands in Vietnam, ga chien — fish sauce chicken wings — exist for the sake of soaking up pitchers of cold draft beer. Both the stand itself and the beverage are known as bia hoi, which translates simply to “fresh beer.”

Unlike Southern fried chicken that insinuates a full-on family meal, the Vietnamese version epitomizes the art of the drinking snack: shareable, noshable, desirable. They took off in the United States thanks in part, perhaps, to Portland-based chef Andy Ricker and the one and only Guy Fieri: After an appearance on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, the Vietnamese wings at Ricker’s mostly-Thai (and now, sadly, closed) restaurant Pok Pok developed cult status. Fish sauce likewise morphed from an ingredient found only at Asian markets to one that any prepared American home cook would keep in the pantry.

This style of wing is a common sight on Vietnamese restaurant menus today, from the likes of fast-casual stops like Hello Banh Mi in Federal Way to full-service outfits like Saigon House in central Tacoma.

At i5 Pho in Tacoma’s South End, the Dang family has staked its name on its house recipe, which balances that savoriness with a heap of sugar and sliced shallots, a few pinches of chili flakes and a light bath of soybean oil.

They are by far the restaurant’s most popular dish, said Phong Dang, who opened the restaurant in 2017 with his mother and two brothers. A Seattle outpost opened about a year later, followed by a third in Alki.

“It’s not a new dish,” insisted Phong, but “it’s in the sauce.”

The kitchen cooks a fresh batch every morning. First, the shallots simmer in hot oil until translucent, under the watchful eye and skilled chopstick maneuvering of Hanh Pham. She then adds a generous pour of fish sauce (the Three Crabs brand from Viet Huong), causing the onion mixture to bubble vigorously. Stirring constantly, in goes a large scoop of sugar and a pinch of chili flakes.

“It’s simple, really,” Phong said again.

The whole process takes about 15 minutes, but in that time, the sauce thickens and darkens until it’s a rich rusty hue.

After submerging the wings, plain, into the deep-fryer, Pham tosses them straight into a bowl of the sauce, scoops them out and lays them beside lettuce and julienned slices of pickled carrot and daikon.

i5 also offers a honey sriracha that leans into the sweet’n’spicy side and an “original,” sprinkled just with salt and pepper, but it’s the fish sauce that i5 self-describes as famous.

Phong recommends ordering a side of rice on which to douse extra sauce ($2). I recommend at least one order of wings, starting at six for $8.75, but I especially recommend an order on Wednesdays, when they are buy-one-get-one.

Nestled into the corner of a small shopping center across from a Holiday Inn Express with the traffic whirring past on Interstate 5, the restaurant remains takeout-only, with a full menu of banh mi, including the house-special Banh Mi Dip, vermicelli and, of course, pho. Eat the wings as soon as possible: condensation diminishes their signature crunch, though the sauce will always be The Sauce.

i5 Pho Tacoma

▪ 8611 S. Hosmer St., Tacoma, 253-212-0487, i5pho.com

▪ Monday-Thursday 11 a.m.-8:45 p.m., Friday 11 a.m.-1:45 a.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-midnight, Sunday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

▪ Details: $8.75 for standard order of six wings (or 10 for $12.25, 15 for $16.25, 20 for $20.25, 50 for $45.25), BOGO Wednesdays; plus full menu of Vietnamese specials

This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.