Triggerfish crudo with unripe pear, lily bulb, duck consomme and Delfina cilantro. Photo by Alison Cook

"Bycatch"is a term that has not yet moved into the mainstream on Houston's rapidly evolving culinary scene, but when it gets there, it will be thanks to chefs like Justin Yu.

He and others, inspired by Louisiana Foods' Gulf seafood expert P.J. Stoops, have been showing local eaters that bycatch can be fun. The word refers to the underutilized fish and shellfish species caught along with the targeted commercial species we see on local menus -- namely the red snapper, shrimp, oysters and blue crabs that have been restaurant mainstays in recent decades. Egged on by Stoops, restaurants like Reef and Feast have led the way, and now bycatch specials are popping up on menus from Cinq to Beaver's, from Bootsie's to Stella Sola and beyond.

Justin Yu's oyster drill (sea snail) dish at a previous collaborative dinner, with radish "kraut" and mirin tapioca. Photo by Alison Cook

Everybody knows how to cook snapper and shrimp. But bycatch species are a different story, and they take some getting used to. Yu, who has cooked at Napa Valley's Ubuntu and last summer's Houston pop-up restaurant, the Just8 Project, recently staged a seven-course dinner and follow-up lunch to demonstrate the creative uses to which bycatch species can be put. I had been wowed by Yu's oyster drill dish at a previous collaborative dinner (the poached sea snails were served alongside their beautifully curved shells, each filled with verdant herbed snail broth infused with various cuts of pork), so I was eager to see what he'd come up with when unleashed on a whole slate of bycatch.

The lunch was held in photographer Ralph Smith's strikingly contemporary Bellaire studio, a venue that suits the young-Turk chefs to whom he lends it out for occasional special events. Beverage pairings by Central Market's Justin Vann purposely skirted wines, save for one course, focusing instead of beers, sake, sherry and Madeira. The results felt very much outside the box.

A pure, pale first course of raw triggerfish came nested inside a tower of crisp unripe pear slices in a pool of duck consomme, with white curls of lily bulb bobbing alongside and feathery sprigs of Delfina cilantro (a species Yu particularly likes for its floral notes) waving aloft. I admired the firm, meaty texture of the triggerfish (Yu noted the dinosaur-tough skin was a bear to remove), as well as the tension between the ocean flavor and the waterfowl broth. The dish tasted clean as a whistle. It was set off by milky, unfiltered "Snow Maiden" nigori sake that struck me as the Japanese version of horchata, its delicate rice-grain texture still perceptible.

Karen Man's monkey bread with oyster butter and roasted shallots. Photo by Alison Cook

Yu's wife, pastry chef and baker Karen Man, did a spectacular course of brioche-like monkey bread which, when pulled apart by many greedy hands, revealed a sumptuous oyster butter and a hidden trove of roasted, caramelized shallots. Stunning stuff, with the oyster flavor ringing clear and unexpected. "It's bread as a composed dish!" gloated my friend Misha, grabbing for another hunk of the pull-apart loaf.

Blue runner crudo with almond and seaweed "sands,"celery curls, onogiri fronds, pressed lettuce. Photo by Alison Cook

Next came a Noma-style seascape of raw blue-runner, a dark, slightly oily, silvery-skinned fish that tastes unapologetically of the sea. Yu set the unskinned strips of fish against two "sands" of almond crumble and darker seaweed crumble, adding translucent curls of celery and green waves of pressed lettuce, their green intensified as excess moisture was extracted. "This is a compilation of what everyone thinks is offensive but what I think is beautiful about eating fish," Yu half-joked as he introduced the dish at the table. I loved the forceful, briny flavors; but then, I want my fish to taste like fish. I'm a mackerel fan. Blue runner is made for me.

Mother-in-law with sunflower seed "risotto,"; gremolata and ash yogurt. Photo by Alison Cook

Next up was toothy Mother-in-law, a salty fish that Yu cut into thin fillets, which he sandwiched together for thickness, leaving the skin on top, and cooked in shrimp butter. The fish was fine, but it took a backseat to an astonishingly good, nutty "risotto" of sunflower seeds cooked into a sort of exotic congee, with sparks of lemony gremolata pesto and tart yogurt darkened with ash. It was a riff on a dish from the Just8 project, and I devoured it down to the last errant sunflower seed. "Sunflower seed risotto is my new favorite thing," said Misha, wistfully regarding his empty bowl.

Sheepshead "headcheese": with summer squash, dashi foam, caramelized sauerkraut puree. Photo by Alison Cook

My favorite dish of the day appeared next: a pale, marbled slice of a "headcheese" made from the lowly sheepshead fish, a species notorious for its jillions of teensy bones, which result in "a yield rate of 25 percent" usable product per fish, explained Yu. His solution: use everything he could extract from the head, rolled up and fastened with meat glue, then sliced into elegant rounds that were soft, flaky and a bit smoky. He served the sheepshead with laidback summer squash, a drift of oceanic dashi foam and bright punctuation marks of pureed caramelized sauerkraut he had cured for a month. Misha speculated that the sheepshead headcheese would be a hit by the slice at Revival Market, and I had to agree with him.

Alligator gar Vietnamese-style, with a caramelized cashew-shallot crust and pea shoots. Photo by Alison Cook

Finally came a course of alligator gar, the snouty prehistoric-looking species I catch a glimpse of on my bayouside walks from time to time. I was surprised by how mild and soft the gar meat turned out to be -- but repelled by how tough its connective tissue was, resisting my best efforts to cut and chew. Yu did honor to that gar with his Vietnamese-style preparation, though. He caramelized it in beef tallow the way you might a claypot catfish, adding a wonderfully savory cashew-and-shallot crust and poising the fish against a fluffed-up crest of red quinoa, an inspired earthy touch. A-plus for style and effort, but having crossed alligator gar off my life list, I'll be fine if I never eat it again. If Justin Yu can't make me like it, I'm pretty sure nobody can.

Should this pique the curiosity of home cooks, check out the Saturday morning Total Catch Market that bycatch impresario P.J. Stoops has instituted at the Louisiana Foods warehouse. It runs from 9 a.m. until a little past noon, and the selection, which changes from week to week depending on what Stoops' designated fishermen and boats bring in, is not solely made up of esoteric creatures. Local chefs and cooks have been rejoicing at the tiny Gulf finger squid that were in season this spring and at the chance to cook beautiful tilefish and queen snapper.

The Saturday haul usually is finalized by Friday afternoon, so check Stoops' Total Catch Market blog to see what's available. The listings, complete with descriptions and photographs, are as stimulating as Yu's bycatch menu proved to be.