At least once a week, someone poses this question on an Asheville food-centric social platform: “Where can I get the best fish and chips in Asheville?”

Within seconds, there is a nearly unanimous response: Mother Ocean Seafood Market. Founder and owner Sam Kosik is proud of the recognition for the #1 seller on the restaurant side of Mother Ocean.

He is even more proud that his store – locally known as MOM – is consistently voted by readers of Mountain Xpress the #1 place for fresh seafood in Asheville, a recognition he achieved just two years after opening his brick and mortar on Merrimon Avenue on March 20, 2020. “We opened just as Covid shut everything down,” he notes wryly.

Thankfully, Sam and MOM were not unknown to locals or chefs. Raised in the eastern region of North Carolina by his mother – who told him early on he needed to learn to cook – Sam first came to WNC to attend culinary school through the Job Corps program, then stayed to work at Grove Park Inn and other local restaurants.

He left cooking for a job as a sales rep for Southern Food (now Cheney Brothers), the large foodservice distributor. After a decade there, he went out on his own, specializing in dried cured products. In 2014, he did another professional reset, connecting relationships he had with fresh seafood vendors along the east coast to relationships he had with the Asheville restaurant business.

When wholesale didn’t prove lucrative enough to sustain the business, he went public in 2016, and his MOM branded trailer, tented table, full white beard, and ebullient personality became a fixture at Asheville tailgate markets. “For several years, I was doing six tailgate markets in five days, with one person helping me.” He sold only raw fish and shellfish from the trailer; then as now, the top three sellers were the Three S’s – salmon, shrimp and scallops. “Those are the three things the home cook feels most confident cooking.”

In 2019, he identified a location, found an investor, and opened Mother Ocean Seafood Market in a small strip center on Merrimon, where it has become a siren song for folks seeking those Three S’s, plus fresh filets cut on site from huge sides of fish delivered daily, whole fish, live lobsters, stone crab claws, king crab, clams, a large selection of pristine oysters, Sunburst Trout, caviar, and crab cakes. Shelves are stocked with local spices, artisan foods, sauces, crackers, and even local sodas.

The restaurant serves lunch Tuesday through Saturday, with extended dinner hours Friday and Saturday. Right behind the famous fish and chips: lobster rolls, po’ boys and baskets are the biggest sellers, served with a choice of fries, hush puppies, salad or coleslaw. Sam is quick to name House Autry as the brand for the gold standard base of their dredge, though he notes his cooks do a few things to make it even better. He’s not sharing what makes the fish and chips so special. “Our fish beer batter is a complete secret and will stay that way,” he says.

When it comes to dining out himself, Kosik knows his fish. A recent trip to New York found him at Le Bernadin, chef Eric Ripert’s three-Michelin star French seafood restaurant in midtown Manhattan.

“We had crudo to start, I had the Dover Sole Almondine, and lots more, all the things. It was fantastic.”

More on Mother Ocean Seafood Market. 

— Kay West

Photos courtesy of Mother Ocean Seafood Market
First photo: MOM Owner Sam Kosik with a side of halibut
Second photo:  MOM’s famous fish and chips