Pan-Roasted Pompano

My paternal grandparents used to have a condo in Hallandale, Florida, and sometimes my parents and I would stay there as a welcome getaway from cold New York winters. I remember we would go to the dock to meet the fishing boats that would sell the fish that had been caught by hotel-bound tourists. It was during these Florida escapes that I became enamored of the sweet, melt-in-your-mouth flesh of pompano. My mother cooked it in an arguably un-Italian but nonetheless delectable style, pan ro