I was having a hard time making up my mind from the menu. I had noted grilled pompano on the specials board as we came into the restaurant, but as usual the menu distracted me and I forgot about the specials - until a grilled pompano was delivered to the table next door. Not only did it smell great, it looked fabulous, with a perfectly seared skin expertly cross-cut to ensure that the meat next to the bone got done before the skin burned. That convinced me.

My pompano tasted just as good as it looked and smelled. Pompano are great eating fixed just about any way you want. They have a firm white flesh that, when cooked, peels off the bone in bite size chunks. This one was superb, with a salty spicy rub that set off the sweet meat to perfection.

Back in the kitchen, Oyster House owner Bob Miller told me the secrets, which weren’t really that secret at all. First, absolutely fresh fish. Well, of course, I knew that. His pompano had been delivered that morning from the local fish dealer just off the boat. An uncooked slab in the kitchen’s refrigerator, already headed and cross cut ready for the grill, glistened, beckoning me to try pompano sushi. Then there’s the seasoning. No secret there, either. The Oyster House uses a commercially available product called Everglades Seasoning that consists of salt and other herbs and spices. A generous dusting before the pomp hits the grill does the trick.  You can buy it in regular, low salt and other flavor blends at www.evergladesseasoning.com.