Buttariga (Bottarga) and other Sardinian ingredients in Bay Area?

[Lieber78]

Does anyone know a good place in the Bay Area to find Sardian speciality foods? I'm particularly looking for Buttariga (Bottarga).

Thank you!

[Lieber78]

Thank you all for your help! I will try these and report back!

[jman1]

I've also bought it in a small jar at a shop called World Market on San Antonio in Mtn. View. About $10. They don't always have it. Probably not as good as the fresh stuff, but it worked out fine for my uses (simple pasta dishes).

[lihsiawang]

A related question:any source for the tuna heart that Incanto uses in its pasta?

[wolfe]

I am afraid you'll need a translator.
http://www.specialitadelmediterraneo.com/conserve-pesce/cuore-tonno-busta-sottovuoto-trance-100-g.html
or not
http://translate.google.com/translate...

[Robert Lauriston]

The importer Tesori of Sicily has it sometimes. You could call and ask about retailers. They bring in bottarga as well, though Sicilian is different from Sardinian.

http://www.tesoriofsicily.com/indexEN...

[wolfe]

This is for those who don't link to links.
This from the Chron article I linked above.
"The Pasta Shop. The Oakland location sells Ittica di'Or grated bottarga from Sicily (50 g; $25) It's a good idea to call to make sure it's in stock.
Whole pieces of bottarga are kept at its sister company, Manicaretti, an Italian imports company based in Oakland. Customers can order a couple of days in advance and pick it up at either Pasta Shop location. The price for 150 grams of either tuna or mullet bottarga, is about $85. Smaller pieces are available by request.
Jarred tuna bottarga is also available online at markethallfoods.com. 5655 College Ave. (at Shafter), Oakland; [phone] and at 1786 Fourth St. (at Hearst), Berkeley; [phone].
Gustiamo. Whole and grated tuna and mullet bottarga is also available from Gustiamo, an Italian import company in Brooklyn that sells online. A 9-ounce piece of tuna bottarga, made from bluefin tuna caught off the coast of Sicily, costs $115. A 4-ounce piece of Sardinian gray mullet bottarga, produced by the Manca brothers, is $46.
http://www.gustiamo.com/
wolfe on Jun 17, 2010 05:39PM

[wanderlust21]

Another update, I bought a few whole pieces of Sardinian grey mullet bottarga online from Gustiamo a month ago (May 2011). It took just over a week to arrive using standard shipping. The Pasta Shop in Oakland also had one whole piece (as Wolfe said, around $80), but no smaller pieces when I made the request. I did not ask if they had grated product.

[Atomica]

I saw bottarga in the cooler at Avedano's on Cortland in Bernal Heights a couple of weeks ago. $8.

[wolfe]

Wow! That seems very cheap as it's $80 for 4oz on Amazon. What size?

[Atomica]

Sorry, wolfe. I didn't see your note until now. I'll probably be ducking into Avedano's tomorrow and I'll take a look. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'll let you know!

[Atomica]

Confirmed. $8 for about 3.5-4.0 ounces. Brand is Smerelda from Sardinia. I bought the last one Avedano's had. You could call to see when they're getting more. On Amazon, it's actually $89 for 1 pound. Smaller piece for $31 or something like that.

[wolfe]

You found a cheaper brand than I did. Good shopping.
http://www.amazon.com/Bottarga-di-Mug...

[mikeh]

As a quick aside, the process of drying and curing mullet roe is not exclusive to Sardinia. There's a regional tradition of doing so along the coasts of northern Florida and also North Carolina, where mullet are also in abaundance. See the link below:

http://www.ncfolk.org/ncfood/driedmul...

Not sure if any regional purveyors can ship out here, but looking for distributors in the Southeast U.S. is another potential source of the product.

[Robert Lauriston]

The Pasta Shop has bottarga sometimes.

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Pasta Shop
5655 College Ave, Oakland, CA 94618

[wolfe]

La Ciccia for Sardianian meals.
Substitute wūyúzi if all else fails.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/496437

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La Ciccia
291 30th Street, San Francisco, CA 94131

[vulber]

specchio does a weeklong bottarga-themed thing, i believe

[Pei]

April 2010 thread. To my knowledge, no significant updates.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/700486