Looking for pickled herring

[erikm]

Anyone know a place in San Francisco to get swedish food like pickled herring and aquavit? Most important is herring, so tips for non-swedish sources of herring are also welcomed!

Thanks!

--A hungry swede on Swedish National Day

[BernalKC]

Paulline's Pickles offers pickled herring. No aquavit. Honestly, I didn't enjoy them as much as Pauline's other pickles. I found them a bit plain. Maybe I'm jaded from regular business trips to Estonia where the oh-so-local, PCB-laden fishies come in an endless array of delicious preparations.

[linam]

IKEA is probably your best bet for herring, although the one in East Palo Alto isn't great at keeping it in stock for Swedish holidays.

BevMo has at least three kinds of aquavit as well as OP.

[Scott M]

I believe Walzwerk has it as an appetizer.

-----
Walzwerk
381 S Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94103

[Absonot]

I just had a great appetizer at Magnolia that was pickled herring-based. Roll mops, I think they were called. Delicious!

[bigwheel042]

Slightly off-topic, but are there any good sources of Dutch matjes? Is Ikea the best bet for something like this? Haven't seen any Dutch restaurants around these parts...

[linam]

IKEA does have matjes, but I don't know if it's the same as the Dutch matjes.

[epicurious_sf]

Trader Joe's has pretty decent Herring (in a jar) as well - in wine or cream sauce.

[Robert Lauriston]

In Oakland, there's Nordic House. I'm not sure they have booze, but aquavit's not that hard to find.

Ikea's deli sells pickled herring and a dozen or so other preserved fish products. Go in through the exit to avoid having to wander through the whole store to get there.

-----
IKEA
4400 Shellmound St, Emeryville, CA

Nordic House
2709 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA 94702

[ckshen]

Anyone knows the source of Ikea's herring? have been eating these but got a bit uneasy reading about the PCBs and dioxins from Russia's coastal cities in baltic herrings, though baltic herrings are presumably not sold outside Sweden by EU law.