Sustainable, a snap to clean, and strangely adorable (that underbite is kind of everything), itty-bitty Atlantic butterfish ($6.50 per pound; fultonfishmarket.com) are tastiest in fall, once the species—Peprilus triacanthus—has had a chance to put on a few ounces. Cook this mild-flavored bycatch of Rhode Island’s booming squid industry the way James Mitchell, the chef at Newport’s Midtown Oyster Bar, does: roasted in a hot oven, over a bed of tomatoes, fennel, and thyme.
Featured in: The 2020 Saveur 100: 11-20