Couple of warnings here:
1. If you are a vegan, please move on to another review.
2. If the idea of eating something that was live just 5mins ago bothers the hell out of you, please move on to another review.
3. If your idea of buying fish comes in 6oz fillet formed (w/o head + tail) and most likely pre-vacuum packed, then this place is probably not for you.
4. If you think walking through a warehouse filled with puddles of sea water smelling of the sea that might stain your shoes, then this place is definitely not for you.
Now, to the rest of the brave readers...
We love seafood and we love eating fresh seafood. Actually who doesn't? The problem is (and has always been) finding fresh seafood to purchase. I don't deny that Asian grocery markets have live seafood for sale. But over the years of shopping at Shun Fa, 99 Ranch, Hawaii SuperMarket, we have come to realize the quality of seafood is going downhill. You pay $6/lb for some injured and dazed looking live Tilapia. Not to mention squeezing and fighting with grandmas at the fish stand on a weekend morning. It is stressful.
So our next stop was WholeFoods. Ok, buying seafood at WH ain't going to be cheap but the quality is assured. Pple who complain that fish are fishy smelling aren't eating fresh fish. Period. WH delivers but with $25/lb for Chilean SeaBass, you have to eat peanut butter for a week. Also, WH doesn't have tanks of live fish swimming around.
Then we pondered: there has got to be a place where one has to wake up early to get fresh fish ala Tsukiji style. Ok, not on that scale but something similar.
This place is almost it.
We arrived at 7:20am and it was already considered quite late. Pacific Fresh Fish is located in downtown LA. The warehouse is lined with aquariums against the wall and boxes of fresh seafood in the center. Some are pre-ordered to be delivered to restaurants and other markets. Clams, mussels, oysters, halibut, tuna, shrimps, sushi grade seafood...you name it, they will probably have it. We asked around and apparently there is no minimum to buy. Cash only. Gloves provided.
Wife and I felt like a couple of amateurs trying to find our way through. But we left with a 5lb halibut...alive and kicking. This is the first time we have to prepare a whole halibut but it was quite an experience. We were able to slice up 4 fillets measuring 15 x 5 x 1inch thick. Sashimi never tasted this sweet and this good.
No picture of the place though a picture of the halibut will be posted... read more