One night when I was a teenager, visiting extended family in the Arkansas delta, I was told to prepare myself for “some mighty good eatin’.” I supposed that we were going to someone’s home or a restaurant. Instead, on this moonless night, the car crossed over a bridge above the St. Francis River, the outlines of a few houseboats tied up barely discernible, and continued on its way. Down the lightless, empty road we drove, not much being said until the car slowed and pulled in front of a small diner. The surprise? Catfish and hush puppies. They were right: it was the best catfish and hush puppies I’d ever eaten, and remains so after all these years.

On a visit this past year to Pasadena, California a new adventure: a different take on catfish. Delicious, whole, deep-fried catfish with its crispy skin and a ponzu sauce at Restaurant Shiro in South Pasadena. Japanese-French cuisine. The ponzu sauce has a citrus soy flavor and is made with soy sauce and yuzu (a Japanese citrus that has a flavor somewhat between a lemon and an orange). Moist, succulent morsels of flaky meat. Yum.