Our annual survey of seafood in Southeast Louisiana this year counts down the 33 best seafood species that we find more in restaurants than in homes.
#17: Farm-Raised Pompano.
A couple of years ago I began noticing that more restaurants were serving pompano than I could recall. Pompano is my favorite fish (it will appear near the beginning of this list, when I will explain why I like it so much). But pompano isn't something you could count on finding, even in the best restaurants. The reason is that the population was small, with most pompano having come from shrimp nets. The fishermen were allowed to sell those, and that measured out most of the pompano season. [caption id="attachment_50780" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Wild-caught pompano meuniere at Galatoire's. [/caption]
So I noticed when restaurants suddenly had the fish all the time, and being sold at bargain prices. I also noticed that these pompano were not quite as good as I remember. For one thing, the new omnipresent new pompano were smaller, and generally lacked the distinctive rich fat under the skin of the fish. I heard a rumor that there are two species of pompano, with these little jobs suddenly being sold as if they were the same as the big, luscious fish you'd get at Antoine's and Galatoire's.
I couldn't confirm the second-species theory. But I kept watching the studies and other reports. And one day, there it was. The smallish pompano are, indeed, really pompano. But instead of being caught in waters like the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Lake Pontchartrain, and Florida, these pompano were being farm-raised. And like most farm-raised fish, they were smaller and less distinctive in flavor.
As is true with farm-raised catfish, the result of this strategy is not terrible. But it's not as good as the wild-caught fish. And those of us who like pompano are picky, and we are asking waiters, "Where did this pompano come from?" before we order it.
