Same-Same, But Different
Chef Chris Biard’s lifelong love of chicken and Thai cooking comes home to roost at SS Gai.
Gai Tod: Fried Chicken, Sticky Rice, Vegetables, Lettuce, Fried Shallots, Herbs, Aromatic-Chile Vinegar, Tamarind-Chile Fish Sauce. |. Photos: Alexander Zeren
Chef Chris Biard knows how to pamper a chicken and—to the disappointment of chickens everywhere—that does not involve a bubble bath. “Pampered fried chicken is just an old-school way of saying it’s really good fried chicken,” says Biard, citing a phrase he nabbed from his restaurateur father. “I grew up frying, eating, and loving chicken.”
However, it wasn’t until Biard’s honeymoon to Thailand with his wife, Emma Biard, that the vision for SS Gai came into sight—or rather, into scent. “We smelled this aroma that was just intoxicating,” says Biard. “It ended up being this real smoke from this lady who was cooking gai yang on the side of the road.”
This epiphany on the Thai island of Ko Pha Ngan led to years of alchemizing the experience back at home. Eventually, this turned into Thai chicken pop-ups around Nashville—a town of discerning fried chicken enthusiasts. After years working in various boundary-pushing professional kitchens like Husk, the idea of opening something simple and old-school felt refreshing to Biard. So, in 2025, he and Emma opened their take on a Thai chicken shop at The Wash, East Nashville’s micro outdoor food hall.
“The inspiration for us as far as doing this restaurant is built off of what [those Thai vendors] do every day: one person cooking one thing really, really, really well,” says Biard.
Gai Yang: Thai Barbecue Chicken, Sticky Rice, Vegetables, Lettuce, Fried Shallots, Herbs, Aromatic-Chile Vinegar, Tamarind-Chile Fish Sauce
Chef Chris Biard of ss gai
PREPPING THE BIRDS
In Thai, there’s a common saying attributed to food vendors, “maen-maen tàae wâa tàang-tàang,” which means “same, same, but different.” Biard symbolizes this slang term in the “SS” of SS Gai, but also gives a nod to the very similar, yet different, chicken dishes at the heart of his business: the grilled (gai yang) and the fried (gai tod).
Both of SS Gai’s chickens begin the same way—with a fish sauce-, palm sugar-, turmeric-, and coriander-heavy marinade that they sit in for 24 hours. “Our philosophy, without giving too many secrets away, is that you’ve got all this flavor you marinated the chicken with, and you want to find a way to keep all that in there,” says Biard.
GAI YANG
For the gai yang, Biard grills the chickens whole, lacquering them with reserved marinade, flipping them frequently, and cooking them low and slow, which allows for caramelization on the outside while locking in juiciness. “As that skin starts to render, it falls down on the coals, builds up that smoke, and reinforces that flavor,” says Biard.
Biard then transfers the chicken to a second grill inside to dry out the skin while brushing on more marinade. “You’re getting this aroma reinforced over and over again as we’re mopping the birds. Marinade hits the coals a little bit, grill smoke comes up, and it builds a flavor you can’t get grilling any other way,” says Biard.
GAI TOD
Where the gai yang is smoky-sweet, the gai tod is the pinnacle of aromatic crispiness. For the batter, Biard begins with Thai red limestone paste—a substitute for manufactured baking soda. The calcium hydroxide in the paste creates a chemical reaction that firms up proteins, resulting in peak crackliness.
Though the batter recipe is a closely guarded secret, Biard is happy to share a little philosophy: don’t lose your marinade in the batter. “Our process is about using as little batter as possible and making it really thick and concentrated.”
Biard doesn’t miss an opportunity to add more flavor, so he layers coriander into the battering process “so when you get your chicken, you see coriander bits or even lemongrass bits in there.”
Biard then double-fries the battered chickens, first in a lower-temperature fryer and then in a high-temperature fryer to seal the deal.
TAMARIND-CHILE FISH SAUCE
Biard committed himself to a lifelong pursuit of studying Thai recipes, methods, and ingredients, including the Thai approach to balancing flavor. As a result, he serves his two chickens with a punchy, funky dipping sauce.
“The tamarind-chile fish sauce, commonly known in Thailand as nam jim jaew, is one of those things that’s all about balance,” says Biard. The sauce, a mixture of fish sauce, palm sugar, and tamarind, brings sharpness and umami to the chickens and, with the addition of local habaneros, some Nashville heat and a little fruitiness.
STICKY (AND TRICKY) RICE
In lieu of a fork and knife, Biard serves each chicken with Thai sticky rice. “I tell people to treat it like injera bread,” says Biard. “You open up the bag, pull a little piece of rice off, and use that as a tool to rip into the chicken, because it’s a really interactive meal.”
The sweet, short-grain rice soaks for 12 hours before steaming in traditional rice urns covered by bamboo baskets. Biard then airs out the rice in a large container to remove some moisture. To avoid over-drying, it’s immediately sealed in plastic bags. It’s a no-expense-spared labor of love, providing a perfectly tacky product.
FINISHING TOUCHES
Part of having a lean menu means Biard can afford labor-intensive luxuries like housemade fried shallots. Both chickens get garnished with a mountain of fried shallots and garlic for aroma and texture. Biard also serves the chickens with a heap of seasonal garnishes. “A lot of times when you get this meal in Thailand, you’ll have vegetables on the table—cabbages, long beans, garlic chives, cucumbers, whatever it is—to eat with your chicken,” says Biard.
Though SS Gai is growing into a larger space with a new and improved custom grill, its core principle of simple food made with precision will remain the same. “The heart of what we do is that we are a chicken house, and that’s what we are going to stay,” says Biard.
