Sashimi grade fish?

[lcastenada]

Can anyone recommend a good place to purchase good sashimi fish for home use in the East Bay?

[idlehouse]

Yaoya-San, a small Japanese grocery store on San Pablo and Moeser Lane in El Cerrito sells excelent sashimi for 2/3 of the price of Tokyo Fishmarket's.

[kanelso1]

There is a fish guy at the Grand Lake Farmers market on Saturdays. He sells great sashimi grade fish and only what is available fresh.

[recycleit]

Surprised Berkeley Bowl hasn't been mentioned. Isn't their fish sashimi grade?

[wolfe]

Is that in Berkeley?

[Atomica]

Might be on a border.

[Robert Lauriston]

The Bowl has some sashimi-grade fish and lots of other Japanese stuff. (The owners are Japanese-American.)

[jason carey]

When you walk by the fish counter at the "bowl" it smells .. fishy.. one should never buy fish from a place that smells like fish.
If you look at a lot of the fish there, it looks old and filmy. The stuff in the separate Sushi cabinet looks better, but I won't buy fish from there because they are selling 2nd rate stuff in general and don't trust how old any of it is based on that and you can smell it half-way in the middle of the meat counter.(far away). Just because the owners are Japanese American means nothing, other than the fact they are Japanese-American.Ethnic background does not determine that the fish will be fresh or handled with respect.

[Robert Lauriston]

The Bowl's fish counter rarely smells fishy to me. The turnover's very high and they're good about labeling things accurately as regards fresh / frozen / wild / farmed etc. It's not as pristine as Tokyo Fish but if you know how to judge fish you can get good stuff at fair prices. It's way better than other supermarkets.

[rfneid]

The owner's of Tokyo Fish came from Berkeley Bowl.

[Robert Lauriston]

Tokyo Fish predates the Bowl by around 15 years. The guy who runs the fish counter, now a partner in the business, previously ran Berkeley Bowl's fish counter.

[wolfe]

He ran the fish counter pre-move and expansion, correct?

[Robert Lauriston]

Well before. He's been at Tokyo Fish since 1990.

[lmnopm]

If I MUST have the fish on Sunday, I'll go to Berkeley Bowl. If it is any other day, Tokyo Fish without a second thought.

[AntarcticWidow]

Tokyo Fish Market in Albany would be your best bet.

Link: http://www.chow.com/places/1665

[Xiao Yang]

Not to nitpick, but it is in Berkeley, not Albany. Berkeley boosters would want you to know that.

[AntarcticWidow]

Then it must be on city borders. If you google their street address it comes up in Albany. The USPS recognizes their address as being both in Albany and Berkeley.

Regardless, Tokyo is still the best place to purchase sashimi grade fish in the East Bay.

Happy eating!

[Xiao Yang]

I actually had to look up the maps on the City of Berkeley website to check, but the City limits are somewhat to the North of Harrison St.

[Glencora]

The border actually follows the creek, so it's in the middle of the block. I live in Berkeley, but get mail with Albany on it all the time.

To keep this food related: my son likes the Japanese snacks and sodas at Tokyo market. They also sell Fra 'Mani sausage, Acme bread, milk, and some produce. The gift shop has bamboo picnicware and other cool things, including t-shirts. Doesn't everyone need a Tokyo Fish Market t-shirt?

[singleguychef]

Ha! I bought a little Tokyo Fish Market t-shirt for my neice in Hawaii. By the way, the T-shirt does say Berkeley.

[Glencora]

Tokyo Market on San Pablo just North of Gilman in Berkeley.