Sushi Grade Fish???

[Goldielocks1225]

I want to try my hand at making my own sushi. Where could I find good quality sushi grade fish in the city? I live in Lakeview so the closer the better. Thank you.

[lunchbox]

Many Whole Foods sushi counters have saku blocks of the basics: Tuna, Salmon, yellowtail...

[aubergine]

sea ranch is a wonderful place...really good quality fish.
have not been to the fish guy yet.

[lkv7]

You should also try to get out to Mistuwa Marketplace in Arlington Heights...EVERYTHING you will ever need in order to make maki, including sushi-grade whatever you want.

[JetGel]

H-mart in Niles, IL (close to city)

[bibi rose]

I haven't found good sushi-grade fish at H-Mart. Just decent fish for cooking. At one point they had a special little kiosk for sashimi-type fish but what was on it looked awful.

[JMFLD]

Dirk's service is great and is closer
Sea Ranch has a better selection - uni ikura and all the good weird stuff you want when eating sushi - and definitely turns out a lot of product. Priced well too. I'm more familiar with the Sea Ranch just east of 94 on the south side of Lake Avenue in Wilmette. They also have a sister grocery store across the parking lot supplying a good selection of Japaneses foodstuffs.

[kykii]

What about Sea Ranch in Evanston? You can hop on the L to get there... Red Line to Purple Line and get off at Dempster.

The address is: 518 Dempster

They also have a location in Wilmette. They have sushi grade filets - salmon, yellowtail, tuna, white tuna, etc... they also will make sushi for you there on the spot.

[ferret]

One last thing about Fish Guy, they have a $10 Tuesday deal where much of their product is discounted to $10 (used to be all) and the remainder is discounted 10%.

[nsxtasy]

I would go to the places recommended in previous discussions here about where to find the best fresh fish:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/321210
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/418724
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/477536

[forzagto]

I get sashimi or make my own sushi from Dirk's at least 3 times per month and never a problem- tuna, salmon, scallops, kona kampachi, red snapper and white tuna (escolar). Great selection, knowledge and quality fish.

[ferret]

Dirk's on Clybourn & Armitage or the Fish Guy on Elston near Montrose come to mind. If you venture out to the suburbs, Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights has an excellent selection (it's a large Japanese grocery with an excellent variety of make-at-home sushi products). Not sure whether the other poster is joking or not, but pretty much all fish used for sushi is flash-frozen to kill parasites. The risks you run are with vendors that "dabble" in product. Go to a fishmonger that does a steady volume and has a good reputation (my two recommendations, for example) and your risks are negligible.

[ferret]

One other thing:

Fish Guy has a monthly sushi instruction class. It's $75/person (sometimes they'll cut a discount for 2 if they don't look like they'll fill up) but you also get to eat the sushi.

http://www.fishguy.com/cooking.htm

[Caralien]

I second the Fish Guy recommendation, although it's a bit of a pain to get to traffic wise.

Everyone who works there is very knowledgable and friendly, and the prices are more than fair. I once stopped there with a friend to pick up something, and we ended up gorging ourselves on the diver scallops sliced as sashimi and eaten raw. So good.

[juv]

sounds very risky. i've heard that these fish spend weeks on ice, giving parasites and worms plenty of time to flourish in their insides