Where can I get blowfish (fugu) in SF?

I'm not even sure this is legal to serve in this country. Is it? Where can I get it in SF?

I've heard through the grapevine that Steve Sawa of Sawa sushi in Sunnyvale is trained to serve fugu (not sure if he has a license) but I've never heard or read reports that he actually has.

Otherwise I'm afraid authentic fugu isn't really served at Bay Area sushi restaurants. Not sure about LA but I'm told New York has some places that do (and even these I've no idea how good they are).

Because NY and LA were mentioned, I will note that the chef-owner at Shiki in Seattle is licensed to serve fugu.

As recently as late December I couldn't get fugu in L.A. because the stuff coming in is being checked too thoroughly. Something about terrorism. Couldn't get Kobe beef either, though I think that just got relaxed. You can still get fugu in NY as they're not being checked apparently.

So I went back to the thread that Melanie linked which was actually something I started. Sorry if this is a little off topic but it got me thinking about something after re-reading everyone's replies.

Based on the documentary show from Hong Kong that I saw (see that linked thread in Melanie's post), the place in Kyushuu Japan that is famous for fugu, fisherman spend hours trying to catch the fish, and a "factory" of workers at the shore process the fish and basically clean out the guts, while making sure the blood doesn't contaminate the meat of the fish. The documentary then show the workers (these are folks who are licensed to prepare fugu and their job is just to gut and clean and process) clean up the fish and package it (which in turn are sold to restaurants and the local ryokans that specialize in fugu dinners).

So I am really curious for those places in the US that serve fugu, do these restaurants receive their fugu whole, or flash frozen with the poisonous body parts already removed? Where do they source their fugu and what kind of substitutes are there?

Oh and to get this reply back on topic, I'm pretty sure any Bay Area restaurant that calls itself Blowfish or Fugu, likely is just using it as a catchy logo or name.

IMP Foods (impfoods.com) appears to be one of few Bay Area sources of sushi grade seafood distribution (for restaurants/wholesale), mostly fish from Japan and other parts. Last I checked fugu wasn't on their menu. Interesting place though. Wish it was open to the public for small order ;-).

Here's a recent post that recommends Koo or Ino.

Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

Just a note that that post just refers to Hirezake @ Koo & Ino. That's sake with toasted Fugu fins and does not contain anything risky.

There's a sushi restaurant in SF actually named "Fugu", but I don't know where it's located.

There's also a restaurant called Blowfish Sushi. There's a blowfish dish on their menu, but I think it's a different fish than the poisonous fugu.

Link: http://blowfishsushi.com/