Restaurants

The Raw Truth

Gassed tuna. Frozen salmon. The sushi business is booming -- but diners
don't always know what they're getting. Where the fish really comes
from, and how to spot the good stuff.

BY G. BRUCE KNECHT
March 25, 2006; Page P1


At Tama Sushi on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, Calif., chef Katsu
Michite serves raw fish that some consider among the best in town. It's
$12 for two small pieces of bluefin tuna. Just down the road is Todai,
a big sushi chain where $14 buys a full lunchtime buffet, including all
the fish you can eat.

Despite the big price gap, the two restaurants have something in
common: They get much of their fish from the same supplier.

Sushi -- one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant business
-- is now firmly in the mainstream, served everywhere from military
canteens to 7-Elevens, and in all 50 states. Even Tony Soprano and his
wife, Carmela, ditched the scaloppine for yellowtail in the season
opener of "The Sopranos."

But at a time when other kinds of restaurants are inundating diners
with details about where their pork chops spent their youth and what
farmer harvested their veggies, sushi is curiously out of step. Even at
top-of-the-line establishments, menus rarely say anything about where
the fish comes from.
FISH TRAILS


· Look behind the menu at 50 major sushi places around the U.S.



It turns out just a few suppliers stock most of the sushi restaurants
in any given city. One of the more popular cuts, yellowtail, almost
always traces its origins to the same fish farms in Japan regardless of
price. "Yellowtail is yellowtail," says Choi Pak, a wholesaler who
supplies Tama Sushi and Todai.

Even in the same restaurant, quality can vary. Spicy tuna rolls,
another staple, are often a way to disguise less-than-top-quality tuna.
Other servings of tuna, whether on a bed of rice or as sashimi, may not
be as fresh as they look; its rich red color may indicate it was caught
days ago -- or that it was "gassed" to give it a rosy glow. And even
fish described as fresh may well have been in the freezer for a while,
which the Food and Drug Administration recommends to kill parasites.

Restaurateurs and distributors say the quality of fish varies -- and
prices reflect that. When a bluefin loin arrives at a wholesaler, for
instance, it is examined and priced based largely on its color and fat
content. This process is inherently more subjective than, say, pricing
beef, which has already been given a grade by inspectors from the
Department of Agriculture.

To some extent, sushi restaurants put their faith in their suppliers,
trusting that higher prices correspond to higher quality. A small
number of high-end places with agents who buy for them at markets in
Japan rely on the judgment of their buyers. Some chefs, like Mr.
Michite of Tama Sushi, go to their fishmongers every morning and pick
out the fish they want. "Experience decides everything," says Mr.
Michite. "I've been doing this for 45 years." At Todai, a spokesman
says the company orders by fax and sends back fish deemed inadequate.
He adds that Todai benefits pricewise by ordering in volume.

The number of Japanese restaurants, nearly all of which serve sushi,
more than doubled in the past decade, to 9,182 last year, up from
4,086, according to Japanese Food Trade News, while sushi sales hit
$2.8 billion, up from $1.1 billion in 2000. Technomic, a food industry
research and consulting firm, expects growth to continue at 10% to 20%
annually for the next five years -- by contrast, the overall restaurant
industry is growing at 5% a year. Mr. Pak, the Los Angeles fish
wholesaler, says he's selling 30% more sushi than he did a decade ago;
it's the fastest-growing segment of his business.
TIP SHEET: A DINER'S GUIDE


Sushi experts say consumers can do several things to ensure that they
eat the good stuff:
NEVER ON SUNDAY: Most restaurants do not receive fresh fish on the
weekend, so it is certain to be less fresh than on other days. In some
places, Monday is even worse.
NEATNESS COUNTS: Look in the sushi case at the bar. If pieces aren't
wrapped and are touching one another or the sides of the case, says
Sushi Sasabune chef Nobi Kusuhara, "they aren't really taking care of
the fish very well."
EXPECT VARIETY: Offerings that change according to the season usually
mean the chef takes pride in his selections.
GOOD LOOKS: Fresh fish will look shiny. Tuna should not be dark or too
red. "When the color is red, almost as if it's been painted, ask if it
has been smoked," says Mr. Kasuhara. If so, "it won't taste good and
could be spoiled inside."
FOLLOW THE CROWDS: Unpopular restaurants may not have enough turnover
to have fresh fish.
SAY NO TO SPICY SUSHI ROLLS: The spices are often intended to disguise
inferior fish.

Sushi owes some of that popularity to the perception that it's healthy.
But tuna, perhaps the most popular sushi fish, may contain high levels
of mercury. "A lot of people think sushi is a health food, but it isn't
if you eat tuna sushi twice a week," says Eli Saddler, a public health
analyst with GotMercury.org, an environmental advocacy group that
tested sushi from five restaurants in California earlier this year.
Mercury, which occurs both naturally and from industrial sources, is
absorbed by marine food chains. It's most concentrated in top
predators, such as swordfish, shark and tuna. In GotMercury's test, 25%
of the tuna samples were close to the FDA's limit of 1 part per
million; 75% had more than 0.5 part per million of mercury, the maximum
many countries consider safe. Every sample exceeded Japan's 0.4
parts-per-million standard.

Coverage of the test has generated controversy in California, where
fish restaurants and retailers that employ more than 10 people are
required to post warnings about mercury. Activists say the warnings
should be nationwide and the FDA should do much more testing.

Understanding the sushi hierarchy can make for smarter ordering. For
example, chefs often reserve the best-quality seafood for sashimi,
which is served without a bed of rice. Spicy tuna rolls are often at
the bottom of the hierarchy.

And that healthy red color that makes the tuna look as if were swimming
an hour ago? This may be the color of tuna that has been gassed, or as
it is sometimes called, "smoked." After the fish is cut into loins or
filets and before it's frozen, it's exposed to carbon monoxide, which
binds with hemoglobin to prevent the flesh from turning from red to
brown to gray.

Joe Gumpel of Gotham Seafood, a major New York distributor, says he
sells gassed fish, mostly to cruise-line customers, but says, "It
misrepresents the product. You can't tell when it was caught, and you
don't know that it went into a factory for enhancements."

Sushi (clockwise from top left): Sea eel, snow crab, Penshell scallop,
golden-spotted sardine



In our survey of 50 top sushi restaurants (see chart), single pieces of
yellowtail ranged from $2 at Suehiro in Salt Lake City to $5 at
Morimoto. But unlike tuna, which comes from all over the world and
varies in color and fat content, yellowtail generally used in sushi is
quite uniform. Chefs and vendors say that nearly all yellowtail used in
sushi is farm-raised in Japan. Star sushi chef Masaharu Morimoto, who
recently expanded from Philadelphia to New York, agrees, but says that
his is fresher than other restaurants may be able to buy because he
gets shipments from Japan four times a week. (He says he also uses
buri, a kind of wild yellowtail, on the rare occasions when he can get
it.)

Then there's that omnipresent modifier "fresh." Most sushi fish has
been frozen at some point. The state of the art is flash freezing, in
which the fish are frozen so quickly in super-cold chillers that the
moisture in its flesh does not crystallize and the fish isn't mushy
when thawed. Kee Chan, the owner of Heat, a sleek, high-end sushi place
in Chicago, says all of the fish he serves is fresh, although he also
acknowledges that much of it has been flash frozen. "Once it gets to
us," he says, "it's fresh."

To confuse things even more, experts say that some seafood that's been
frozen is superior. "I've seen an assembly line where eels are alive at
the start of the process, then stunned, filleted, vacuum-packed and
frozen," says Robert Wholey, who owns Pittsburgh's biggest seafood
distributor. "That's as fresh as you can get."

One way to ensure quality, according to some chefs, is to order direct
from Japan. New York's Masa, with its $350 prix-fixe dinner, is
generally regarded as the country's most expensive restaurant. Its
chef-owner, Masayoshi Takayama, has what amounts to a personal fish
shopper in Japan. An agent buys for him at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo
and directly from fishermen at the port of Chiba, then rushes the fish
to the airport to catch a nonstop flight to New York, JAL's flight 006.
As soon as the fish clears Customs, the driver of the van who will
bring it to Masa calls with an estimate for his arrival time.

Mr. Takayama claims fish caught near Japan feed on superior plankton.
"Good plankton is as important to fish as soil is to crops," he says.
That's "pure nonsense," says Daniel Pauly, the director of the
University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre. Still, the quality
of the fish sold at the Tsukiji market is widely admired by industry
insiders. They point to the enormous volume of fish sold there (about
2,000 pounds of marine products every day), the high standards of the
domestic market, the exacting way fish are butchered and handled, the
temperature controls and the hygienic standards.

That's why sushi chefs like Chris Kinjo of Atlanta's MF Sushibar buy
much of their fish in Japan and air-freight it to the U.S. at a cost of
$3 to $4 a pound. A broker working for Mr. Kinjo shops at Tsukiji and
ships fish on a nonstop Delta flight to Atlanta three times a week. New
York's Jewel Bako also gets most of its fish directly from Japan. So do
both branches of Morimoto.

But the fish at most sushi restaurants arrives by routes so complicated
that even many chefs admit that they do not know exactly where it came
from. Most acquire their fish from several local suppliers. Some are
affiliates of large importers like New Jersey-based True World Foods,
which has branches across the country, and Yama Seafood, which supplies
300 restaurants, mostly in the Northeast. Other wholesalers are local
businesses. All typically buy fish that comes from many places around
the globe.

Some of the tuna sold at the Atlanta affiliate of True World Foods, for
example, is caught in the Pacific, landed in Southeast Asia, then
shipped to Latin America enroute to Atlanta; salmon is flown in from
fish farms in Chile or Scotland. Long Island-based importer Bob Sedano,
who supplies tuna to Gotham Seafood and several other New York
wholesalers, says he buys fish "opportunistically" from all around the
world.

So apart from that Japanese-farmed yellowtail and California sea
urchins, you can rarely be sure where the fish on your vinegared rice
has been swimming. But you can count on the rice: Nearly all of it is
grown in California.

Here's the c & p of the sidebar...but unforunately the formatting
renders it illegible:

CITY/RESTAURANT HAMACHI1
PER PIECE
Fish Trails To see where sushi's most important raw ingredient comes
from, we asked 50 top sushi
restaurants in 10 cities where they get their fish. Here's a sampling
of what we found.
- Jessie Knadler
Sushi
Primer
A look at some
popular sushi
WHERE FISH COMES FROM2 COMMENTS
$3.00
5.00
4.50
5.00
3.50
Importer-distributors True World Foods, Yama Seafood
Tsujiki market in Tokyo, True World Foods, Yama Seafood
Nearly all from Tsujiki market in Tokyo
Tsujiki market, Yama Seafood
Mr. Ishida, a local distributor
Sea Express in Brooklyn supplies big-eye tuna from South America.
Chef says he won't use overfished varieties like swordfish.
Specialty is sea urchin, served live in the shell.
Fish is flown in from Japan four days a week, including Sunday.
The most popular are otoro (fatty tuna) and kama toro (cheek of tuna).
$4.00
2.25
4.50
3.00
4.00
Importer-distributors True World Foods, Yama Seafood
Yellowtail from Nishimoto Trading in Broward County, Fla.
All from True World Foods in Miami
True World Foods, Nishimoto Trading
True World Foods, dealers overseas and in Hawaii
The most popular item is spicy tuna roll.
"Customers like their sushi American-style: mayo and cream cheese."
Most fish is flash frozen.
Owner says diners are getting younger and more adventurous.
The restaurant serves Latin-influenced sushi.
$3.00
3.50
5.00
3.00
2.75
Salmon is frozen briefly in a hospital-style chiller onsite to kill
parasites.
Mackerel and sea urchin have gotten more popular with patrons.
Serves fresh grated wasabi rather than a paste from powder.
Some fish is cured to kill remaining parasites and remove excess water.
Some tuna comes from fish farms in Australia and Spain.
True World Foods in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
True World Foods in New Jersey, local fish market
Agent buys at Tsukiji market in Tokyo; also Yama Seafood
Local fish from Samuels & Son Seafood in Philadelphia
Nishimoto Trading in New York, Samuels & Son Seafood
$2.75
2.75
3.00
2.85
4.00
Yama Seafood, Samuels & Son Seafood in Philadelphia
Yama Seafood, local fish from Jessup, Md., market
Six suppliers, including a fisherman-broker in Chatham, Mass.
Hamachi from Yama Seafood, mackerel from True World Foods
Most from importer-distributor Yama Seafood
M. Slavin & Sons supplies lobster from Maine and Canada.
Said to be a favorite of Japanese diplomats.
Owner says he'd love to see more demands for white fish sushi.
Owner prefers wasabi inside sushi for cleaner flavors.
Gets fish deliveries Monday through Saturday.
$4.00
4.00
2.50
2.95
4.00
Fortune Fish in Chicago, which has hired Japanese agents
True World Foods, mostly imported from Japan
True World Foods, mostly imported from Japan
Mostly True World Foods and Yamasho
True World Foods and Fortune Fish
Makes sashimi from fish in tanks under the sushi bar.
One of the few that serves wild hamachi.
Fish from Japan takes 27 days to arrive, so it is frozen.
Chef says tuna is now harvested too young, so the flesh is very light.
American-born sushi chefs work as a team, not under a Japanese chef.
$2.75
5.00
4.50
4.50
4.00
Wholesalers International Marine Products, Los Angeles Fish
Chef picks out fish each morning at L.A.'s wholesale fish market
Showa Marine and International Marine Products
Yellowtail from Japan every day, organic salmon from Boston
Chef selects fish daily at L.A.'s wholesale fish market
The first outpost of the Nobu Matsuhisa sushi empire, opened in 1987.
Among its unusual sushi are halibut fin and needlefish.
Gets red snapper from New Zealand, albacore tuna from Canada.
Chef-owner Nobi Kusuhara has run sushi restaurants for three decades.
Serves fresh grated wasabi root, which some places reserve for VIPs.
$3.50
4.50
4.50
2.25
3.50
An L.A. brokerage gets fish from Hawaii and the Northwest
Importers Hosoda, Los Angeles Fish, IMP
All fish flown in; won't disclose vendors
Showa Marine and IMP Nevada, both in Las Vegas
True World Foods in Los Angeles, other L.A. brokers
Chef says Japanese fusion with other cuisines has helped popularize
sushi.
The restaurant says it flash freezes tuna and salmon for safety.
Charges $80 a pound for live Australian lobster served as sashimi.
Most of the fish is from North America.
Executive chef notes that tuna caught off Boston is auctioned in Japan.
Tskija Market ,
Japan
Delta Flight
xxx to Atlanta
U.S. Customs
Service
Pacific Fishing Refrigerator truck
boat
MF Sushi Bar
Boat to
Panama
Plane to
Miami
Miami
Customs
Refrigerated
truck to Atlanta
( ( (
$2.90
3.00
4.00
2.00
5.50
Sent overnight from International Marine Products in L.A.
Mostly fresh, from International Marine Products
California-based IMP Foods, which is opening an outpost in Utah
International Marine Products in L.A
Several California distributors; won't disclose vendors
Chefs come from Utah, including one of the few female sushi chefs.
Caters to sushi novices with 36 specialty rolls.
Recently purchased a 100-pound bluefin tuna from the coast of Italy.
Uses octopus from South Africa, mackerel from New Zealand.
Flies in kanpachi from Hawaii.
FISH CAUGHT SOLD IMPORTED CUSTOMS LAND TRANSPORTATION DESTINATION
$3.00
2.50
2.50
2.15
3.50
70% to 80% from Tsujiki market in Tokyo
Broker in San Francisco who buys from two markets in Japan
IMP Foods, sister firm of L.A.-based International Marine Products
Tuna and Mendocino sea urchin from wholesaler ABS
Local branch of True World Foods
Master sushi chef Takahashi says Alaskan salmon can be difficult to
get.
Carries 15 different kinds of fish a day, varying by season.
Restaurant says 95% of fish is fresh.
Kiyoshi Hayakawa has been serving sushi in California for 20 years.
Signature dish is baby sea eel dipped in ponzu sauce.
1Prices are per piece.
Servings are often two
pieces.
2 Vendors listed are among
those mentioned by the
restaurants.
$3.00
3.00
4.00
2.00
2.25
Bluefin tuna comes from Boston.
Sea urchin bought in San Diego by an agent.
Serves kanpachi, which is popular in Japan but less so in the U.S.
Half of fish is fresh, half is frozen.
Serves sea urchin, supplied by True World Foods.
Atlanta branch of importer-distributor True World Foods
80% from Tsujiki fish market in Tokyo and air-freighted
Major importer-distributors Yama Seafood, True World Foods
Four major wholesalers, including True World Foods in Atlanta
Shellfish and yellowtail from importer-wholesaler Nishimoto
CHERRY BLOSSOM
SNAPPER
FATTY TUNA
FLUKE
FRESHWATER EEL
GOLDEN-SPOTTED
SARDINE
JAPANESE WILD
GROUPER
MACKEREL
RED SNAPPER
SALMON
SEA EEL
(with shiitake
mushrooms, japanese
cucumber and baby
asparagus)
SEA URCHIN
TUNA
YELLOWTAIL
1
3
1
2
1
3
3
4
5
1
5
2
2
3
4
4
4
Tsujiki wholesale fish
market in Tokyo
2
A Tale of
Two Atlanta
Restaurants
A few high-end sushi
restaurants, like
MF Sushibar in Atlanta,
have agents who buy
fish in Japan. Many
more, like Atlanta's
Nakato,
rely on
importers
and local
brokers
who handle
fish
from all
over. PANAMA
SCOTLAND
CALIFORNIA.
RHODE IS.
MF Sushibar
Fish caught in Pacific
Purchased by agent at Tsujiki market in Tokyo
Flown on Delta to Atlanta airport
Cleared by Customs Service
Delivered by truck to the restaurant
Nakato
Tuna caught in Pacific, landed in Panama, flown to Miami, cleared by
Customs Service, flown to Atlanta, trucked to True World Foods
Salmon farmed in Scotland, flown to Miami, cleared by
Customs Service, trucked to True World Foods
Fluke from Rhode Island flown to Atlanta, trucked to True World Foods
Sea urchins from California flown to Atlanta airport, trucked to
True World Foods
ATLANTA
True World Foods,
a branch of a
nationwide
importer-distributor
Customs Service
clears fish
TOKYO
MIAMI
NEW YORK
BondSt
Geisha
Jewel Bako
Morimoto
Sushi Yasuda
MIAMI
Bond St. Lounge
Shibui
Shoji Sushi
Sushi Maki
SushiSamba Dromo
PHILADELPHIA
Bluefin
Kisso Sushi Bar
Morimoto
Osaka
Shiroi Hana Restaurant
WASHINGTON
Kaz Sushi Bistro
Makoto
Sushi-Ko
Sushi Taro
Tako Grill
CHICAGO
Heat
Japonais
Mirai Sushi
Sai Café
Sushi Wabi
LOS ANGELES
Matsuhisa
R-23
Sushi Nozawa
Sushi Sasabune
Sushi Tenn
LAS VEGAS
Hyakumi, Caesars Pal.
Shibuya, MGM Grand
Shintaro, Bellagio
Sushi Fever
Sushi Roku, Caesars Pal.
SALT LAKE CITY
Ginza
Happy Sumo, Gateway
Ichiban Sushi
Suehiro
Takashi
SAN FRANCISCO
Anzu
Hana Japanese Rest.
Kabuto
Koo
Ozumo Restaurant
ATLANTA
Hashiguchi
MF Sushibar
Nakato
Nickiemoto's Midtown
Sushi Avenue

wrote:

> Restaurants
>
> The Raw Truth
>
> Gassed tuna. Frozen salmon. The sushi business is booming -- but diners
> don't always know what they're getting. Where the fish really comes
> from, and how to spot the good stuff.
>

Seems like the quality of the fish is all the same.

Only the skill of the chef is different.

--
"If there are people inside our country who are talking with al Qaeda, we
want to know about it, because we will not sit back and wait to be hit
again."
~President George W. Bush

David wrote on Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:46:30 -0800:

??>> Restaurants
??>>
??>> The Raw Truth
??>>
??>> Gassed tuna. Frozen salmon. The sushi business is booming
??>> -- but diners don't always know what they're getting.
??>> Where the fish really comes from, and how to spot the good
??>> stuff.
??>>
DG> Seems like the quality of the fish is all the same.

DG> Only the skill of the chef is different.

That's fortunately not true because I don't think a *sushi
restaurant* offering low quality tuna or other fish will stay in
business very long even if it catches the fancy of ignorant
glitterati. I certainly don't assume two off days in a row!
Actually, most of the low quality stuff I have come across is in
all-you-can-eat buffets run by people with non-Japanese names or
in supermarkets where the sushi is "made fresh daily". There
*are* supermarkets like Whole Foods that make decent sushi and I
do know a lunch-time AYCE buffet at one Japanese restaurant that
is quite good tho' it does have a lot of rolls and spicy tuna.

James Silverton.

"... I don't think a *sushi
restaurant* offering low quality tuna or other fish will stay in
business very long "


The proliferation of all the california roll and cucumber and avocado
dumps belies that. They're thriving.



ww

wrote on 27 Mar 2006 09:40:24 -0800:

w> The proliferation of all the california roll and cucumber
w> and avocado dumps belies that. They're thriving.

As I think I said, those who like that stuff are welcome to it!
The "prepared fresh daily" places seem to stay in business but
"include me out" as an Irishman said. Rolls, especially
elaborate ones devised by the sushi chef, are fine as a contrast
but I wouldn't go out of my way for them.


James Silverton.