In a town that has mastered its fish and chips game, South Bay Wild Fish House holds its own. Co-owner Rob Seitz fishes off his own boat and sets aside some of the catch for the kitchen and deli case; Tiffani Seitz runs the cozy two-story restaurant filled with historical photos of Astoria and vintage fishing gear. There, they serve battered wild fish, including the specialty of the house, a mild flatfish petrale sole and a slightly sweeter and moister rockfish. Look for specials of sustainably fished salmon-and-chips in season, too, all served with house vinaigrette slaw and wedge-cut fries. They’re best enjoyed at the long communal table upcycled from AMCO, the defunct local shipyard, with a local Buoy Beer IPA.

When asked their favorite place to order fish and chips on the coast, many Oregonians single out Astoria’s beloved Bowpicker Fish & Chips. This 28-foot converted wooden boat once gillnetted for salmon on the Columbia, but now the boat delivers a different catch of the day: lightly beer-battered (and particularly crispy) chunks of juicy, fresh albacore, served with thick steak fries. Diners often wait in surprisingly long lines to choose either a five-piece whole order or a three-piece half, tartar sauce or no, and take the steps down from the deck to a few picnic tables. Bad weather closes up shop, since the boat is an open kitchen concept — so open, in fact, that rain can pour into the galley. Bring cash, as Bowpicker does not accept credit or debit cards.

Ship Out is the afterlife of the Ship Inn, a longtime fish hut housed on Astoria’s waterfront from 1974 to 2017. When the latter closed, former employee Enola Baeten took up the fry basket, serving some of the classics from an off-the-beaten-path cart painted with a Lower Columbia waterscape. It’s worth the short drive across the Old Youngs Bay Bridge for serious talent: hand-dipped chunks of halibut, giant prawns, scallops, or a heaping serving of calamari strips. Look for occasional sturgeon specials, and if you can’t decide, choose a combo of all their fried seafood or opt for half-and-half with two choices. All baskets come with creamy slaw and an irresistible mound of fries.

After a fire swept through this Cannon Beach landmark in July 2018, the Beckman family rebuilt Ecola Seafoods Restaurant & Market with a cozier seating area and expansive deli case. Now you can sit outside on the second-story deck, too. Big hunks of batter-fried Pacific cod, halibut, wild salmon, and tuna appear on the menu year-round, alongside large prawns, calamari, and razor clam baskets with the same thin, crunchy fries. All that being said, Ecola Seafoods supplies the restaurant with fish from its own boats, so it’s worth it to ask which fish are local and fresh that day.

In the summer months, kayakers on the Nehalem River pull up to the bank at Riverside Fish & Chips to fuel up with a three-piece basket of Pacific cod, chips, and a side of creamy slaw. Now open year-round (with chili and chili dogs offered alongside the fish in the winter), this busy food truck is nestled away behind a row of shops on the short main drag in Nehalem and can be accessed streetside via a small alley. Seating is mostly outdoor on shaded picnic tables, with some cover over a patio behind a local antique store. Regulars give thumbs up to the light, non-oily beer batter, and the organic Portland Ketchup served with otherwise basic fries.

Located in the marketplace across from the dreamy Salishan Coastal Lodge complex, popular sandwich shop Squatchsami brings a local fish and chips food truck to the quiet area north of Gleneden on Siletz Bay. The deep blue food truck, Squatchsami To Go, usually operates Friday to Sunday. Check out the fresh sheet online, which describes the catch of the day (options like halibut or ling cod caught near Oregon shores and enrobed in crispy golden batter). Feel free to text your order ahead of time. Upgrade to rosemary fries; you won’t regret it.

A hub of activity in otherwise sleepy South Beach (south of Newport), South Beach Fish Market’s blue and yellow shack with copious wood fish cutouts and a UFO perched atop its outdoor crab kettle draws in coasties and the curious. Inside, a soft haze of oil hangs over the procedings in a no-nonsense shop, as an almost perpetual line mulls over the remarkable array of fresh, smoked, and pickled seafood in the case. Seafood like jumbo prawns, wild Oregon popcorn shrimp, albacore, halibut, Chinook salmon, razor clams, clam strips, oysters, and “calamari tubes and tentacles” arrive battered and deep-fried to order. Takeaway or sitting at one of the picnic tables outside may be a wiser choice than eating at one of the interior tables, ordering a side of salmon candy a wiser choice than not.

For locally sourced fish and chips, fish tacos and poke bowls, vistors to tiny Waldport on the Central Coast are in luck. Fished out of Brett and Susie Montague’s single family-owned boat, the seafood at JoElle’s that makes its way to your plate has one of the simplest supply chains imaginable. Brett catches it using sustainable hook-and-line methods on the 40-foot troller, the Jo El, blast-freezes it at sea, then keeps it in a cold storage facility until Susie fries it up at the food truck. Though the menu is currently featuring battered albacore tuna and chips, watch for seasonal shifts as the boat goes out for fish like salmon, cod, and halibut, and specialties from other local fishing families who bring back Dungeness crab and more. Vegans should know about their “tofish tacos,” made with morsels of fried tofu and topped with slaw and pineapple salsa.

Perched on the banks of the Smith River where it joins the lower Umpqua in Reedsport, Big Fish Café operates out of a repurposed Coast Guard ship with a sunny garden patio seating area. With lunch and dinner menus spotlighting local seafood and produce in classic dishes and a full bar, it’s the upscale casual restaurant Reedsport has been missing. Cod, halibut, and panko-coated fried shrimp are the fish-and-chip standards on the menu — served with skin-on fries made fresh with fat slices of russet potatoes — and they’ve been garnering raves from both locals and visitors. Looking to spice up your fried seafood date night? Check out the exhibit at the Umpqua Discovery Center next door, then gaze out on the water from the nautical blue dining area upstairs and share a fritto misto app, which comes with fried calamari strips, shrimp, and artichokes.

In 2017, Cassie Hamilton pulled up her converted floating houseboat restaurant from Winchester Bay and moved the operation to nearby Coos Bay. Dry-docked on northbound Highway 101, the Boat attracts flocks of locals for fried oysters, coconut shrimp, and hand-cut halibut, as well as the more standard cod and shrimp fry. Slaw can be subbed for decent fries or added for an additional price. Outdoor deck seating overlooks cool vintage trains and logging equipment in the Oregon Coast Historic Railway train yard next door, especially pretty adorned with lights during the holidays.

It’s simply not a trip to the South Coast without a stop at Port Orford’s Crazy’s, or so it’s been called by locals for decades. Sometimes it seems a little crazy indeed, with big summertime lunch and dinner crowds clamoring for huge plates of well fried, crispy battered fish like ling cod or Alaskan cod served with an unusual tarragon-flecked tartar sauce. Fortunately, one of the most beautiful views on the entire coast is a quick walk away, so order at the takeaway window or add your name to the list for seating and come back after admiring the sandy cove of Battle Rock beach. Look for specials like Port Orford-sourced rockfish in the quieter months. Don’t leave without a slice of one of their fruit pies, heaped with ice cream.