Where do I buy the best sushi-grade fish in Los Angeles?

August 18, 2005 10:13 AM

Where do I get the best sushi-quality fish in Los Angeles (In large chunks)?

Me and my brother would like to throw a sushi party at some point, where we get big ol blocks of salmon and tuna and such and make sushi. We would like to avoid tapeworm and/or death. We are looking for two different sorts of stores:

My brother: Where does one get the absolute best, freshest, sushi-grade fish in Los Angeles, at any price? I imagine this may be two different places, depending on whether we're filleting the fish or not.

Me: Where does one get really good fish and shellfish for good prices in LA? What's the best place for shrimp? I've heard that frozen shrimp can be really good if purchased from the right places..where are such places?

posted by sirion to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

I'm sorry I can't be any more specific, but try to find an Asian supermarket with a sushi counter. You might find that, like the one near me, they will sell not only prepared sushi and sashimi but also uncut blocks/fillets of sashimi-quality fish. It will be more expensive than the fillets at your average seafood counter, but much cheaper than professionally sliced sashimi.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:22 AM on August 18, 2005

Marukai supermarkets -- they charge a membership fee but the sashimi-grade fish is always fresh. I've gotten albacore, salmon, many types of tuna including toro, red snapper, yellowtail...there's a huge variety.
posted by kathryn at 12:51 PM on August 18, 2005

The Mitsuwa chain also has pretty good seafood at a reasonable cost. Just get there before noon for the best selection. As for the very highest quality, the fish market near downtown every morning (except Sunday) would be where it's at, although I don't know how hard it would be for you to get in without a business license.
posted by shoos at 1:48 PM on August 18, 2005

Also, the Nijiya chain.
posted by shoos at 1:49 PM on August 18, 2005

Previous responses are much more specific, but I just wanted to point out that "sashimi grade" is the specific string most useful for googling.
posted by squidlarkin at 2:10 PM on August 18, 2005

Santa Monica Seafood
posted by seymour.skinner at 4:02 PM on August 18, 2005

Ranch Market (at least the one at Sepulveda and Victory up in Van Nuys) has an unbelievable fish selection at VERY cheap prices. You can get huge chunks of just about anything you want, and whole fish. They have live crabs (at least three types), live lobsters, and all kinds of live shellfish. They also have tons of frozen shellfish. Also a large sushi selection (both as chunks and prepared), not so cheap.
posted by johngumbo at 4:58 PM on August 18, 2005

Fish King in Glendale is the other place to go and get yourself top grade fish. I've bought many many pounds of sushii grade tuna from them.

722 N Glendale Ave
Glendale, CA 91206-2198
[phone]
posted by drewbage1847 at 5:01 PM on August 18, 2005

With gas prices this ridiculous: The web is your friend.
http://catalinaop.com/sushifish.htm
posted by omidius at 6:17 PM on August 18, 2005