Fisherman turned chef shares taste of sea in Loudon County

 

LOUDON, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A man in Loudon has combined his love for the ocean and his passion for cooking into what has been dubbed Z Fish House. This week's Foodie Friday featured the restaurant in Loudon County.

 

Chef Ed Ziems spent most of his life on the ocean, but his livelihood relies on his skills in the kitchen.

"I was a fisherman, a sport fisherman, a chef, and when I wasn't in the kitchen I was on the boats."

Now that he's hundreds of miles away from the ocean, he's found a way to combine his two loves in east Tennessee.

Ziems said, "I get to do what I want to do, I get to feed people what I want, I don't have the restraints or the restrictions that the corporations place on people."

First working as a dishwasher as a teen, then attending culinary school and working around the globe he finally has a place to call his own.

"It's good, simple food, it's prepared fresh, the fish is breaded fresh, the shrimp are done to order, we do the best we can using the best possible ingredients."

Z Fish House is not what Ziems calls gourmet.