4. Lionfish swims onto another menu
Jack’s Farm to Fork in Ft. Meyers, Fla., may not be the first restaurant to serve lionfish, the invasive species that conservationists hope foodservice will embrace as an inexpensive food stock. But few establishments have gone as far as the resort-based restaurant to introduce diners to a species that's little-known except to aquarium keepers.
Jack’s recently added a third lionfish prep to the menu, a lionfish tartar. Already available are two pan-seared fillets, one served with a pea puree and fiddlehead ferns, and the other topping coconut curry, lentils and basmati rice.
Chef de Cuisine David Rashty describes the meat as flaky and mild, like the fillets of flounder, sea bass or hogfish.
The population of lionfish has soared in the Gulf of Mexico because of the warm waters and the abundance of food, threatening the area’s marine life and reefs.