Meet Hieu Pham: Owner of Crawfish Shack Seafood

His journey of reinterpreting Vietnamese cuisine on Atlanta’s Buford Highway

Southern Foodways Alliance

Southern Foodways Alliance

Hieu Pham Oral History Highlights by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

The Southern Foodways Alliance oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Meet Hieu Pham of Crawfish Shack Seafood. He uses his multicultural background to create unique Vietnamese cuisine.

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

Hieu Pham is a born-and-raised Atlantan, but his parents bring a mix of Cambodian, Chinese, and Vietnamese heritage to the table.

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

Born in 1983, shortly after his parents came to the United States as refugees from Vietnam, Hieu was often the only kid of Asian descent at his Atlanta public school. But his parents steadily encouraged close kinship with a Vietnamese community via the Vietnamese Baptist Church.

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

It was through church camps, often held in New Orleans, that Hieu discovered Cajun cooking, crawfish boils, po-boys, and oysters on the half shell. Once a student of interior design at Georgia State, Hieu switched gears to open Crawfish Shack Seafood on Atlanta’s Buford Highway in 2008.

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

With the help of his parents and sister, Hieu dishes out fresh po-boys with a Vietnamese-influenced remoulade, spring rolls made with Louisiana shrimp...

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

and offers a traditional Vietnamese drink of pressed sugarcane spiked with sweet Louisiana satsumas in lieu of sweet tea.

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"It is a Cajun influenced restaurant, a lot of just deep-frying fish, shrimp, a lot of Low
Country boils. I also do po-boys there but it’s not a typical Cajun restaurant..."

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

“My background nationality-wise is I’m half Vietnamese, one-fourth Chinese, one-fourth Cambodian, so there’s a lot of ethnic influence behind the ingredients of the food."

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"...which gives a different taste, a little bit more handsome flavoring and aroma."

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"Buford Highway is international food. You can find from Korean-influenced food to Cajun food, a lot of Vietnamese, a lot of Malaysian, Indonesian."

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"It’s the [United Nations]
of all ethnic food. If you want to just pick one location just decide what food—Buford
Highway would be the place your choice of food."

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"There’s Cuban restaurants, there’s truthfully probably not one restaurant you couldn’t think of that would not be off of Buford Highway. There’s a vegan-influenced restaurant that’s all tofu based."

Hieu Pham Crawfish Shack by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"Buford Highway is just the international of Atlanta."

Credits: Story

Date of interview:
2010-05-31 00:00

Interviewer:
Kate Medley

Photographer:
Kate Medley

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
Explore more