What's in the case today? Braintree's Waves Seafood offers variety and fresh ideas

BRAINTREE − There are plenty of fish in the sea, and Waves Seafood wants its customers to try as many of them as possible.

The seafood market and takeout restaurant opened at 190 Quincy Ave. in Braintree this past August at the site of the former Curry Hardware.

The husband-and-wife team of Ray and Kara Kelley said their goal is to offer high-quality seafood while introducing new flavors and varieties of fish to their customers.

Ray has been in the wholesale fish business since 2006 and said he has wanted to open a place like Waves for years, but finding the right location at the right price eluded him.

That is until the couple’s 8-year-old daughter inadvertently got the ball rolling.

As Kara explained, their daughter had been taking gymnastics classes at the time at Joan’s Olympic Gym across the street from the old hardware store, which had a for sale sign in front of it.

“We were coming out from picking her up, and Ray saw the building and said, ‘I think that is it,’” Kara said.

They bought the property in June 2021, and their store opened two years later this past August.

The store continues to evolve, with the addition of seating, Sunday hours and holiday catering.

Waves also offers online ordering for both in-store pickup as well as delivery through DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub.

Kara said they are working on outside seating for when the warm weather returns.

Waves is closed Monday and Tuesday to allow the couple more time with their children. In addition to their daughter, they have a 3-year-old son.

“It’s really important to us to strike a work-family balance,” Kara said.

Meet the Kelleys

Ray and Kara are high school sweethearts who didn't go to the same high school, with Ray growing up in Dorchester and Kara in Belmont. The two were introduced to each other through mutual friends.

They maintained a long-distance relationship during college and have been together for 22 years and married for nine.

Their home in Braintree, where they have lived for about nine years, required a similar sense of vision as transforming Curry into Waves. Kara said it wasn’t much to look at when they bought it.

“We are used to seeing good space,” Kara said of both their home and business. “Our skill sets have always been complementary.”

Ray has been eating fish for most of his life, and his taste for it has grown over the years, he said.

“I grew up near water, and going out to eat seafood was very common, and so was cooking it at home. I’m very good at cooking seafood. That has always been my thing,” he said.

His profession has only added to his love of fish.

“Since I’ve been a wholesaler, my palate has grown,” he said. “I’ll pretty much eat anything that swims.”

Ray said his work as a fish wholesaler allows him to handpick from a wide variety of species and ensure the quality of what they sell and serve in the store.

“If something doesn’t meet our level of quality, we’re not putting it out,” he said. “We’re one of the few places that really does this top to bottom."

Turning Curry Hardware into Waves Seafood

The two-year span from buying the property to opening Waves posed challenges and unexpected costs, the Kelleys said.

“I thought it’d be like flipping the house, that we’d be in and out quick,” Ray said. “I thought we'd be open in the fall (of 2021)."

Other than the overall challenge of converting a hardware store into both a retail space and a kitchen, the couple found unexpected expenses along the way, such as a sophisticated and expensive grease trap system required by the town.

“That was our $100,000 surprise,” Kara said.

They had to rip up their floors to install the necessary equipment, Ray said.

The building’s age also required an overhaul of the wiring and plumbing system. The service backlog that started with COVID didn't help matters.

“Everything had to be updated,” Ray said. “We waited months for the plumber and couldn't do anything until that happened.”

The lobster tank, which looks deceptively simple, requires a complicated filtration and ocean water storage system in the form of a tank the size of a car sunk into the ground in the rear of the property.

“There are only two or three people I know of who go all over New England installing these tanks,” Ray said.

The expansive kitchen, refrigerated storage area and bright and uncluttered front area is the result of all their hard work..

“It’s been a long journey,” Kara said.

‘We want to inspire creativity’

The store features a variety of refrigerated foods and ready-to-heat meals in addition to uncooked, fresh fish and hot meals and soups.

The Kelleys said they want to offer a mix of traditional seafood favorites, like fish cakes and scallops wrapped in bacon, while introducing customers to new tastes by bringing in less common fish varieties, such as opah.

“We want to educate our customers and bring in new things for them to try," Ray said.

Kara said they want customers to feel like they have input into the menu by offering their own recipe ideas.

“We want people to be able to experiment and have fun,” Kara said. “We want to inspire creativity.”

The couple try to use as many local vendors as possible while giving lesser-known brands more exposure.

“A lot of places will carry Cape Cod chips, but we offer Nantucket Crisps,” Kara said as an example.

The market also features "Waves Weeklies," which Kara describes as regular menu items with "a fun twist or completely new creations just available for the week."

Over the last few weeks alone, the specials have included honey garlic shrimp, haddock with cheese wrap and teriyaki swordfish, to name a few.

“We don’t want people to get bored,” Ray said.

Waves Seafood is at 190 Quincy Ave. in Braintree. Search Waves on Facebook or visit Waves-seafood.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Waves Seafood in Braintree is in the former Curry Hardware