>>. The key is to eat it fresh. It can be done: I've had awesome snapper and tuna entrees in a fish restaurant in the Midwest, thousands of miles from the sea.

Yes.
Not so in Hamilton, NJ, so I just don't order it.
Best fish in the world - Sloppy Louie's or Carmine's - both near the Fulton Fish market in NYC.

I had a kick once at a restaurant in Kansas City, MO - famous for steak.
I orderd a strip steak and the owner told me "No good steaks here. We send all that to NY - they pay a lot for it. We eat what's left over."