Seafood so good it makes you cry: The heartfelt flavors of Good Hot Fish
Ashleigh Shanti isn't just serving up delectable seafood at Asheville's Good Hot Fish; she's crafting a culinary narrative woven with threads of heritage, community and steadfast resilience.
Raised along the sandy shores of Virginia Beach, Va., Shanti fondly recalls the simple joys of family fish fries, easy access to fresh catches and the profound influence those experiences had on her understanding of food. Childhood memories instilled a deep respect for the coast’s bounty that has become the cornerstone of her culinary philosophy.
A desire to carve her own path brought Shanti to Asheville, N.C., in 2017. She collaborated with Chef John Fleer on Benne on Eagle, a restaurant celebrating the often-overlooked Black foodways of Appalachia.
The desire to share her personal stories through food led Shanti to open the 25-seat Good Hot Fish in January 2024, following a series of pop up dining events. "The pandemic helped me realize that it was really important that I was able to have ownership of the stories I was telling through the food that I was cooking," she explains.
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This story is part of NC Catch’s “Recognizing African American Participation in the North Carolina Seafood Industry” project. North Carolina’s Black seafood business community has partnered with researchers in this historic project conceived by NC Catch to build understanding of the vital role African Americans and people of color play in the state’s seafood industry. Narratives, video and oral histories tell the stories of Black fishers, wholesalers, chefs and others working in seafood. A N.C. Sea Grant 2024 Community Collaborative Research Grant has helped fund the project.
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Good Hot Fish is more than just a place to grab a bite; it's a testament to Shanti's dedication to local food. She's committed to sourcing seafood from North Carolina fishers, a challenge in landlocked Asheville. She’s succeeded by forging strong relationships with purveyors of seafood harvested by N.C. commercial fishing families.
"It's more than important for us," Shanti emphasizes when discussing the significance of local ingredients. "I'm a chef that, as I got into professional kitchens and got serious about cooking, I just kind of held the standard that I would cook what was local and what grew around me, because that is what I saw the women in my family do."
Less than a year after opening Good Hot Fish, Hurricane Helene devastated the region and temporarily shuttered the restaurant. But the unpredictable forces of nature only strengthened Shanti's passion. Good Hot Fish, like countless other businesses, faced significant hurdles.
The restaurant had no electricity or water. Shanti and her team responded with generosity, transforming their salvaged inventory into nourishing meals they transported to communities in need.
Good Hot Fish is more than a restaurant; it's a testament to the power of food to connect, nourish and preserve history.
Shanti share her story during a December 2024 interview with NC Catch’s “Recognizing African American Participation in the North Carolina Seafood Industry” project team. The following excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.
You were born in coastal St. Mary’s, Ga., but you didn’t grow up in that little town?
I grew up in Virginia Beach, Va., another coastal town. My dad was retired Navy and just settled there. Was retired long before I was born. You know, great, great, little seafood town. It's also where I got bit by the culinary bug, just working at various seafood restaurants in Virginia Beach. So yeah, amazing upbringing. Ate really great food and very close familial ties with other extended family throughout the South.
Your family — grandparents, great-grandparents — are they from Georgia?
None of my family is from Georgia in particular. I was born there because that is where my parents were that weekend, at my aunt's wedding. But my family is, my dad's side of the family, is from the Lowcountry, S.C., and also a little region called Midlands of South Carolina. So there, you know, you've got Columbia and little towns like Bishopville and Sumter and my mom's side of the family, my maternal side is from Southern Appalachia, so southwestern Virginia, Hillsville, all those little Appalachian towns in Virginia.
What brought you to Asheville?
I moved to Asheville in 2017 just searching for my place in the industry. I kind of bounced around at multiple jobs and was looking for a position that I truly believed in. Met with chef John Fleer that year, and he talked to me about his vision for a restaurant that, at the time, was called Benne on Eagle, wasn't open yet, but he had been searching for a head chef to help spearhead this project. And you know, we got on really well together and had a lot of the same vision when it came to how people view Appalachian food. So it just kind of was a no brainer. And I moved to Asheville that year to help open the Eagle.
Talk about how you were on the same page regarding how people view Appalachia food?
I think John had a pretty heavy focus on wanting to highlight the Black foodways of the region. That's something that isn't talked about a lot when we speak of the history of the food here. And so that was his vision, and that's something that I had hoped to do as well with my connections to the region.
You really appreciate the stories behind the dishes.
It's just the way that I cook. And I have found my identity through food in a lot of ways. So, I think that naturally, a lot of the food that I cook tells a story. Also, I just want a certain thing at a certain time, and it just seems fun, and I'd like to be able to present that to people too. I'm really thankful to have so much support through this community. Most things that we do here are well received, which is really encouraging.
When we first contacted you, it was in fall, and you said, ‘I'd like to invite you to my book signing.’ For your cookbook. The event was going to be on the roof, and then Hurricane Helen changed everything.
So that initial book signing that was supposed to happen here in Asheville was postponed. I mean, we still haven't had it, and that's just due to a lot of factors, just trying to reopen a restaurant and weather cooperating. We're still planning to do that Asheville book signing at some point.
Tell us about your book.
‘Our South.’ It highlights the regions in the South that have been incredibly special to me. One of the ideas that I've had, but surrounding Southern cuisine, and behind a lot of the food that we cook here in the South, is that it's also different. Obviously, there are similarities. But, you know, I think when people hear Southern food, there are certain dishes that come to mind, and there are dishes that are incredibly important to the South that I think that people aren't even aware of.
‘Our South’ highlights, not only that, but also how micro-regional this area is. Someone that is from the Delta South isn't going to cook the same way that someone does in coastal Virginia versus Florida and Pee Dee County, S.C. We just have all of these different micro regions here that cook very differently and have very different food traditions and preservation methods. And I've always seen that throughout my upbringing, just kind of traveling and bouncing around through different areas here. In writing these recipes and kind of digging through family traditions, it kind of came together to where I was able to distinctly separate a lot of these recipes into regions.
What seafood dishes come to mind from your family heritage?
My upbringing surrounds the coastal South for the most part. I mean, outside of just family, travels and visiting relatives, most of my childhood was spent in coastal Virginia, where we had such a vast variety of seafood and really great accessibility to it. Seafood stew is something that my mom would make often. But even more simple than that, just a simple family fish fry was something that we did often, and was oftentimes the gathering, the central part surrounding our gatherings as a family. So yeah, I mean, it's not even any dish in particular, just the availability and accessibility to fresh seafood is just something that is very nostalgic to me.
Do you remember what kind of fish was popular to fry?
Whiting was really popular to fry. Also spot, catfish. In regards to seafood stews, I had a neighbor that was really big into fishing and would often bring by yellowfin tuna. My mom would poach that or grill it. We would often do whole vermilion snapper on the grill. So yeah, quite a variety of access to really amazing white or brown shrimp. Also those family ties to the Lowcountry we kind of had our choice in really great oysters. And also, too, in Virginia, crabs are incredibly popular, so that crab boils were very frequent for our family gatherings as well.
You said you relied on local commercial fishers in North Carolina for seafood in season. What kind of seafood do you serve at Good Hot Fish?
At this time (December 2024), we have catfish, speckled trout, rainbow trout, on the menu. We also have black drum. We're hoping to get some flounder this weekend. So, we are dictated by the waters and what that brings us.
How important is domestic seafood versus imported seafood to you?
It's more than important for us. I think it's just a standard that we have. You know, I'm a chef who, as I got into professional kitchens and got serious about cooking, I just kind of held the standard that I would cook what was local and what grew around me, because that is what I saw the women in my family do. And I don't think I really understood the importance of that, or even understood that, that was all around me, and that ethos and philosophy applied to seafood as well. I didn't really grasp that until I started doing my research for Good Hot Fish and trying to find people to supply us with local seafood, and the difficulties in that, but also the importance of it, in the difference in quality of product that you're getting as well.
Where do you source local seafood?
We rely heavily on John (Mallette) at Southern Breeze Seafood (in Jacksonville, N.C.). We get quite a variety of seafood from him, and he does a really great job with beautiful whole fish that we are always excited about butchering here. And we also use Locals Seafood (in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.), who has also set an incredible standard and truly made things easy for people like us that are hoping to serve local and sustainable seafood. We're usually getting dayboat shrimp from Locals as well. Pamlico Sound is what they usually have on the tag. (Dayboat shrimp is harvested by commercial fishers who return to port the same day. Dayboats are boats that are at sea for 24 hours or less.)
Do your customers, all the way up here in Asheville, appreciate that? Do you do any kind of education for the customers? Like, you know, this is special, because this is local, and you're supporting families, you're supporting communities?
We're in Asheville, N.C., like we are a very hyper-aware community, and really delight in supporting locals. I say that residents in Asheville are what we call ‘locavores.’ Local food is really important. Sustainability and supporting farmers are really important.
You know, there aren't a lot of seafood restaurants in Asheville. We're in the mountains, and even just finding purveyors to supply us with the seafood that we need is a challenge, and that's a reason why you don't see a lot of seafood restaurants in Asheville, because it's a tough thing to do.
And I think that when you're putting yourself in a position that way in a town like this, you can't help but kind of serve as a source of information. That's not something that we set out to do, but we always are here to answer guest questions, and I found that, in the beginning, where there were so many different questions about why we have certain varieties but not others, and even knowledge about varieties that our guests had never heard of, while there were questions in the beginning, I think now there's just this level of trust, which is really exciting.
I think that just being in a community where we're so tight knit and there is such a trust for the people that are feeding you, I think that certainly made it easy. And us, having done this for a few years as a pop-up, I think we had a lot of buy-in from the people that support us and come in our doors to dine.
What would make it easier to source N.C. seafood?
I think accessibility would certainly make things easier, For my Southern Breeze order, that typically means me driving to Charlotte to pick that up. I think about restaurants here that used Locals before Locals delivered to Asheville, they (restaurant owners or staff) were driving to Raleigh to pick up their orders. And that makes it pretty challenging when you're trying to run a restaurant at the same time. I would like to think that what we're doing at Good Hot Fish is reflective of the interest that's here for seafood from our Carolina coasts. And you know, it would be amazing if we could see more seafood, local seafood purveyors, coming to Asheville.
Asheville is a progressive community for sure, but it's also a majority white city, right?
Yes. 100%
Have you encountered any challenges regarding being a person of color, a woman starting her own business here?
Yeah, but I wouldn't specify that to Asheville in particular. I think that's just life and navigating life as a Black woman that's in a predominantly white field, which is also most fields too. So the answer to that is yes, I've certainly faced challenges and expect to continue to face challenges, but that certainly hasn't slowed me down in any aspect.
How do you face those challenges or work around challenges?
It's not something I give much energy to or think about in that way. I mean, I know that obstacles and hurdles are going to exist for me, so, I mean, I just focus on doing what I love. Focus on the people that do support me, and I find a lot of gratitude and fulfillment in that. I plan how to achieve my goals and not how to work around the obstacles. So maybe that mindset helps.
We’re here at your restaurant in December, not quite a year after you opened in January 2024 and a little more than two months after Hurricane Helene brought major flooding to this area. What did you do during the direct aftermath of Helene?
The first thing that we did was try to see what we could salvage here. We lost power, so we did lose most of our products, but what we could salvage, we donated and got with other restaurants and chefs that were interested in doing some volunteering for the community that was in dire need at the time. We collectively kind of got all of our inventory together, and also some donations from other restaurants that didn't have the capacity to volunteer, but definitely wanted to donate goods and paper goods and all those amazing things to help us do community pop ups. Just posting up, doing like a little buffet style line for free for people that were in need.
We were specifically going into communities that we were hearing were underserved and couldn't make it out to get anything. There's also a little community in Black Mountain, and another one in Barnardsville that we frequent. And I mean, sometimes, this was just popping up at the local community center, like at the Shiloh Community Center, donated some things to them. All just based on need and things that we were kind of hearing from community feedback.
Were you afraid that your restaurant wouldn’t survive the economic impact of the Helene disaster?
No, I mean, I'm a new business owner. Who knows what this whole thing was going to look like on the other side? I think I saw pretty immediately that the other side of it was very unknown. We had no idea if we were gonna get water back. And, I think, pretty quickly, we all had a meeting of the minds as restaurant owners and even with our own staff, and just had some very realistic conversations.
I was one of the first people that I knew that did immediately lay off my staff because I knew that there was going to be extra relief coming. And I also didn't want them to be so backed up in the line for receiving unemployment, as happened for COVID. I remembered that because, at the time (of COVID), I had to file for unemployment because I was laid off. I didn't want them to have to face that.
So that, coupled with some really amazing supporters that we have, some of our regulars who were just very transparently like, ‘Hey, what would it take to pay your staff for a week? This is what I want to give you.’ There were multiple situations like that that helped pay our staff to where they didn't have any break in pay. And, I think for me, it was really hard once they were taken care of, it was really hard for me to then think, is Good Hot Fish gonna survive? Because we felt OKy, and we have a really great relationship with our landlord. They weren't asking for rent for the month of October because, you know, we didn't have clean water. So they're good people.
And I think seeing what some of my other friends were going through, that just didn't have restaurants anymore, they were at the top of mind for me. It definitely put it into perspective. So, you know, we had no damage done to our building. We lost power and water like everyone, but I knew that we were certainly one of the lucky ones.
What are some things your customers say about Good Hot Fish that make you feel good about opening the restaurant?
One of the things I love to hear, especially when I see older,Black Asheville residents come in here multiple times, even some of the older women and men — actually, I've seen men cry here, in tears, just saying they can't believe that something like this exists in Asheville again. And then they haven't seen things like this since the ’70s in Asheville, and it's just so encouraging. And you know, we're here to do a service for people, and having them thank us for that.
You know, obviously this is a monetary exchange, but we do want to evoke certain emotions, and the fact that people feel that, and are thanking us before they leave our doors and just feel so grateful for not just us cooking their food but just existing in this space and for what we've brought to them, it feels very affirming.
There's been some tension regarding the price of seafood at restaurants? You want to be able to serve affordable plates to people, but you have to balance that desire with wholesale prices.
I think when we first opened, maybe some people did have some sticker shock. And you know, why would you have this deep sense of familiarity with the cost of seafood when you live in a mountain town? And it did take a lot of trust to let people know, like, ‘Hey, we're working really hard to give this to you. The people on the coast have worked really hard to give this to you’ and just kind of educating them on, even things like how the weather impacts the cost of seafood. It's good to see that people are willing to learn, even. I'm glad that we've developed that level of trust with our diners.
Would you be interested in sort of trying to build a network of Black seafood purveyors across the state, and being part of that?
I feel like, naturally, it's kind of happened already a little bit, but absolutely, yeah, any sort of connection with other Black seafood chefs and just other seafood chefs in the region in general, those things go a long way.
Journalist Liz Biro wrote this report in 2025 based on a December 2024 interview by Barbara Garrity-Blake. Photo by Barbara Garrity-Blake.
