Seattle is blessed with fish markets. From the family-run Mutual Fish Co. to the boisterous fish-throwers at Pike Place Fish Market, this city knows its seafood. There’s no reason to take home a subpar steak or a less-than-fresh filet. When in doubt, talk to your fishmonger. A good one will be able to tell you where and how a fish was pulled from the ocean. Three markets stand out above the rest when it comes to finding fresh fish.

Mutual Fish

Mutual Fish is the connoisseur’s fish market. It’s been in business since 1947 and has helped chefs such as Tom Douglas get their start serving fresh Northwest seafood. Here you’ll find such delicacies as herring roe on kelp (kazunoko kombu), geoduck and Penn Cove mussels. Most items are clearly labeled with the Monterey Bay Aquarium guidelines, too, making it easy to choose wisely as you shop.
The market is small, but it has top-grade choices and several shelves of Asian goods. The Yoshimura family, which has run the company since its inception, says staying small makes it easier to control quality.

Mutual Fish is trusted by many top local chefs including Tom Douglas.

Mutual Fish Co
2335 Rainier Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98144-5389
(206) 322-4368
http://www.mutualfish.com/

Uwajimaya

Uwajimaya’s downtown Seattle store has a seafood department that boasts more than 500 different items. Tanks hold fresh fish, and local area schools come here on a regular basis for field trips. The market and its Bellevue, Renton and Beaverton, OR, branches have become vital outlets for not only the Japanese communities, but other ethnic communities in the region as well, including the Koreans, Vietnamese and Russians. “We are constantly educating ourselves on how everybody is using seafood,” says Ken Hewitt of the market’s seafood department. Most of the fish on sale is locally caught, too. Many sushi chefs shop here, and a few have “VIP passes” to walk into the cooler and see what’s fresh. Hewitt says he gets regular phone calls from many top chefs.

The new Uwajimaya store in Bellevue features a very large seafood department.

Seattle Uwajimaya
600 5th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104
Bellevue Uwajimaya
699 120th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98005
Renton Uwajimaya
501 South Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057
Beaverton Uwajimaya
10500 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale HWY, Beaverton, OR 97005
http://www.uwajimaya.com/

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market opened in 1907 in order to cut out the price-gouging middlemen and get fresh food directly to the people. On the first day, 10,000 people gathered and quickly bought everything the eight farmers on hand had to offer. It was clear the people were ready for a public market. Today, the market draws 10 million people. But the market is much more than a tourist stop – it’s still a fully functional market that serves downtown denizens fresh fish, meat, fruits and vegetables. Before the internment of the Japanese Americans in World War II, the market’s vendors were predominantly Japanese. When the local Japanese population was taken to internment camps, the number of vendors at the market dropped from 600 to 40.
Today, perhaps the biggest tourist attraction within the market – the Pike Place Fish Market, famous for its fish-throwing and other boisterous activity at the center of the market – is going 100% sustainable. “We have a few hundred pounds of Mexican shrimp left that we had to freeze when the market was closed in January for renovations, but once that’s sold, we’re 100% sustainable,” says Jake Jardine. “We are going with hook-and-line caught fish, all wild salmon – no farmed salmon – and the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Marine Stewardship Council guidelines.”
The market is planning new signage and a blitz of public-relations activity once the nonsustainable shrimp is sold. “There are guys who have worked here 10-15 years. Seafood has paid for their house,” Jardine says. “We want there to be enough seafood in the ocean. We’re all conscious of it and constantly talking about different alternatives.”

Pike Place Fish Market will soon be selling 100% sustainable seafood.

Pike Place Fish Market
86 Pike Place, Seattle
(206) 682-7181

Read related articles:

Enjoying the Northwest’s Bounty
http://www.ibukimagazine.com/food-and-drink/japanese-cuisine/543

Dine Out for Fish

• Shun Japanese Cuisine
• Red Fin Sushi Restaurant