"It’s tough to get through to the snooty snootertons who think this will be a black-tie affair."

When Stephen Phelps, chef and owner of Indigenous restaurant in Sarasota’s Towles Court, started planning Monday’s Trash Fish Dinner at Louies Modern, he knew that the name would start people talking.

Also called bycatch, Phelps’ “trash fish” are those species that get pulled up in smaller quantities by commercial fishermen as they haul in thousands of pounds of more desirable fish such as grouper or red snapper. Triggerfish, porgy, hogfish and even mangrove snapper qualify as a tasty catch for casual fishermen, but are rarely served in restaurants.

“The fish we’re talking about is the stuff that I catch when I go fishing,” said Phelps. “It’s really not all that trashy.”

Read more at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.