Sashimi Grade Launches

It's never hard to find sushi in Austin as long as your tastes run to the perfunctory, but if you're a sushibar looking to offer more esoteric items such as katsuo (bonito), kanpachi (ambe rjack), remora, scorpion fish, african pompano, triggerfish, or shako ebi (mantisshrimp), you might want to give Sashimi Grade a call. Sashimi Grade is an artisan seafood supplier operating out of Corpus Christi. Their "sustainable" seafood is poll-and-line or troll caught and is "super frozen" at -76 F to ensure the freshest possible result. They often catch such small quantities that they will never advertise them, but only offer them to their select sushi bar customers. They are currently catching fish from the Gulf of Mexico, but hope to be bringing in fish from the Pacific soon. Interested sushi bars should contact them. Need convincing? Download their presentation (PDF format).

Maki Changes Name, Franchises

Our favorite roll-your-own sushi place had to change their name from "Maki" to "How Do You Roll" for copyright reasons. They also are offering franchises and have a Twitter feed. Read all about it on their new blog.

Their new downtown location, at 454 W 2nd Street, is now set to open in mid-April.

More Sushi-busting With DNA

A recent study by scientists from the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University found more evidence that sushi bars are taking liberties with the labeling of their seafood.

They collected 68 samples from 31 establishments in the New York City area. All claimed to be types of tuna (bigeye, yellowtail, albacore, etc).

The results? "Nineteenof 31 restaurants erroneously described or failed to identify the sushi they sold. Twenty-two of 68 samples were sold as species that were contradicted by molecular identification." Lastly, five samples claiming to be tuna were actually from a semi-toxic fish, Escolar, which is banned for sale in some countries for health reasons. Yuck!