Fresh sardines in OC?

[hobbess]

I'm looking for some fresh sardines to grill on a charcoal grill. Are the Japanese supermarkets like Mitsuwa the best option to find them in Orange County?

[Das Ubergeek]

Yes. Mitsuwa, Marukai (though you'll have to pay a "daily membership fee" or an annual one) or Ebisu are the places to look.

[Surfindaave]

Try Ranch 99 Market - an Asian market - there are two of them in Irvine. I've gotten sardines there before.

[Ringo Gato]

The Sunday Farmers' Market in Long Beach (just off PCH and 2nd St, about a 30 second drive from the Orange County line, [Seal Beach]) usually has fresh sardines at West Coast Fish. $3.00 per pound. I grill them regularly.

[hobbess]

I was watching Hooked, Line, and Dinner for the first time on the Cooking Channel, and they profiled a San Diego restaurant that got its sardines from a bait shop. Normally, those sardines are used as bait for fisherman trying to catch bigger fish but this restaurant grilled those sardines and sold them.

There's a place in Marina Del Rey that does it, but that's too far for me. Are there any other similar bait shops on land in OC or near OC that will also sell live sardines as bait that I could cook?

So far, from my googling, it looks like there are other bait shops around that sell live sardines as bait but these are bait shops/barges on the water so you can only get to them on a boat.

[OCEllen]

I've seen them at Whole Foods but call first to check.