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Sticky Bird cooks up saucy chicken cuisine for a cause

By Valerie Phillips special To The Standard-Examiner - | Jun 16, 2021
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Sticky Bird's general manager Jason Webb and assistant manager Tabitha Montoya showcase the restaurant's colorful metal art.

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A combo meal of Sticky Fingers glistens with Original Amazing sauce, with sides of Buffalo cauliflower, slaw and two cinnamon cake pops (donut holes) at Sticky Bird in Farmington.

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Tennessee Legs are drumsticks kicked up with a choice of spicy rubs and sauces.

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Buffalo Cauliflower is a signature side dish, where cauliflower florets are dipped in spicy Buffalo-flavored batter and deep-fried.

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Sticky Finger Chop Salad features chopped chicken fingers, mixed greens, crumbled queso fresco cheese, tomatoes and shredded cabbage, with a choice of house-made ranch, Creamy Amazing or balsamic dressing on the side.

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The Original Pounder chicken breast sandwich is topped with lettuce, onion, tomato and pickle.

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The Sticky Fingers taco combo features deep-fried chicken tenders laced with a choice of sauce, guacamole and queso fresco.

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Jason Webb, general manager of Sticky Bird, is a graduate of Red Barn Academy's addiction recovery program.

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The Sticky Bird fast casual restaurant in Farmington.

Sticky Bird in Farmington is a recent entry in Utah’s fried chicken scene. Menu mainstays are chicken fingers, known here as “Sticky Fingers,” glistening with glazes such as Original Amazing Sauce.

If you think “Sticky Fingers” and “Original Amazing Sauce,” sounds a lot like the Utah-based Winger’s chain, you’re right. Sticky Bird is a sister brand to Wingers, in a fast casual format.

“We took our proven Sticky Fingers from our Wingers casual dining brand, and combined them with unique offerings that would work in a fast casual (quick service) model,” said Brandon Howard, chief operating officer and executive chef of Wingers USA.

He came up with the Sticky Bird name while sitting on a park bench in Logan. “I needed something unique and identifiable,” he said.

It’s also cuisine for a cause, since Sticky Bird is a partner to the Red Barn Academy addiction recovery program, located north of the restaurant. The Academy gives students a place to stay while they learn life skills and job training to work toward a successful, sober future. Among Sticky Bird’s staff are several Red Barn students who learn responsibility and teamwork as well as culinary training. A portion of the restaurant’s profits go to the Academy’s programs.

Jason Webb, Sticky Bird’s general manager, is a role model for the Red Barn program. He spent 30 years in and out of prison, mostly for drug-related offenses. In 2017, he was accepted into Red Barn Academy’s two-year program, where the structure and concept of hard work helped him turn from addiction and hone his leadership skills.

“Red Barn has become part of my life,” Webb said. “Now that I’ve had a chance to help other guys make an adjustment to save their lives, I’m hooked. I got really good at team-building.”

The Red Barn program was founded by Rich and Kristin Haws, who owned the farm property that became Station Park and Park Lane Commons. After losing their son, Dustin, to a heroin overdose in 2012, they began hosting therapy sessions in their barn on Park Lane Commons. Over the years, the program expanded to include living quarters for over 50 participants who work on the farm, Red Barn Movers and other jobs, said Webb.

So how does this relate to fried chicken?

Webb said the idea of a restaurant goes back to the Hawses’ son, Dustin, who once spent time in a program through which students worked in a chicken restaurant. “His parents went to visit him and saw him happier than they had ever seen him. That planted the seed.”

In 2016, Rich Haws asked a friend, chef Brandon Howard, to help develop a culinary skills facility for Red Barn students. Howard, a 1992 Western Culinary Institute graduate, has nearly 30 years of experience at the helm of acclaimed Utah kitchens such as LaCaille, Market Street Grill and Oyster Bar, Snowbird Resorts and Park City Mountain Resort.

In 2018, Howard became the chief operating officer and executive chef of Winger’s USA. Winger’s was looking to enter the quick-service restaurant industry, and the concept of a fast casual restaurant like Sticky Bird dovetailed with the Red Barn Academy’s vision of offering culinary job training to its students.

“As we franchise and open other stores, their people will come here for training, and so will more students from the Red Barn,” Webb said. “Currently, the Davis Technology Center has been helping with a culinary course at the Red Barn, and eventually it will connect here.”

The restaurant has indoor seating for about 60, with a few outdoor picnic tables next to the parking lot, and a patio with rocking chairs where people can also sit and eat.

Deep-fried chicken breast “fingers” are the staple here, served on their own, in combo meals, chopped salad and even tacos. They’re tossed in a choice of sauces: the sweet-hot Original Amazing, Utah Honey Vinegar, Classic Buffalo, Double Barrel BBQ or Rebel Fire. A three-finger combo meal includes fries, slaw, cinnamon cake pops (small doughnut-hole bites) and a drink for $9.50.

Tennessee Legs are a signature item that Webb and Howard would like to see more people try. Drumsticks are getting more culinary love these days because there’s a nationwide shortage of chicken wings.

“We had to stop selling wings, but the legs are more meaty than wings, and they’re so good,” Webb said. “We’ve added several different new spice rubs that you can get on them besides the Nashville hot dry rub, including Honey Habanero, Cajun Spice, Sweet BBQ and Garlic Parmesan. For that matter, any of our chicken items can be tossed in your choice of rub or sauce.”

Another new item, the Original Pounder, is a riff on the restaurant’s Nashville Pounder chicken fillet sandwich. The Nashville Pounder is topped with crunchy onion straws and slaw, and the Original is decked out with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and a creamy Swiss sauce.

Along with the already mentioned onion straws, signature sides include Buffalo Cauliflower, Mac & Cheese Wedges, and garlic fries in addition to coleslaw, skin-on fries and side salads.

Once the wallflower of the veggie world, cauliflower is showing up on many trendy menus. At Sticky Bird, it’s dipped in a Buffalo hot sauce-flavored batter and deep-fried. The Buffalo cauliflower can also top a salad as a vegetarian switch-up. Webb said that future plans include non-battered garlic Parmesan-seasoned cauliflower, which would be keto-friendly and gluten-free.

“We can also do gluten-free chicken, cauliflower and fries,” Webb said. “Our vegetable oil is soy-based, so it’s also gluten-friendly.”

The battered and deep-fried wedges of macaroni and cheese are popular kids’ meal entrees, as are the Tennessee Legs drumsticks, Webb said.

Decadent shakes such as Cookie Zookie and The Rockbash ($3.95) offer a sweet, cool finale.

Because the restaurant goes through so many orders of chicken fingers, they are almost constantly cooking, Webb said. The legs, fillets and cauliflower are cooked to order to keep them hot and fresh.

When Sticky Bird opened in March 2020, in-house dining was banned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So it was a slower start-up, with a drive-thru window only.

“Now we’re open inside, we get filled up quickly, especially on the weekends,” Webb said. “We also do really do well with our online orders.”

They also use DoorDash delivery service.

STICKY BIRD

Location: 504 N. Station Parkway, Farmington

Prices: $5.50-$11.50

Contact: https://sticky-bird.com, 801-784-5885

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Closed Sunday.

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