Safer Sushi

For eco-minded eaters — not to mention radiation alarmists — fish is a quandary these days. Much of the seafood served in American restaurants is imported, caught using methods that endanger other animals or farmed unsustainably. But a few chefs around the country are trying to turn the tide with local, eco-conscious menus.

Tataki in San Francisco

Tataki in San Francisco offers local catches like Monterey Bay sardines, horse mackerel from California and wild salmon, when it’s available. (When it’s not, the kitchen uses closed-containment-farmed Arctic char.) Casson Trenor, an owner and a seafood sustainability expert with Greenpeace, is especially proud of the restaurant’s vegetarian menu. “There’s no more sustainable sushi eater than a vegetarian,” he says. 2815 California Street, (415) 931-1182; 1740 Church Street, (415) 282-1889.

At the wind-powered Bamboo Sushi in Portland, Ore. — the only United States sushi restaurant to be certified by the international Marine Stewardship Council — Kristofor Lofgren avoids bluefin tuna, octopus and other untenable fish in favor of wild hamachi, wild salmon, troll-caught Pacific albacore and Canadian sea urchin. And all his farmed fish is antibiotic-free and vegetarian-fed. 310 S.E. 28th Avenue; (503) 232-5255.

Hajime Sato, the chef-owner at Mashiko in Seattle, recently revolutionized his menu, removing eel, toro and hamachi. He sources wild sea urchin, albacore and sardines from Oregon, Washington and Canada, and all of his farmed fish come from operations that prevent waste from returning to the ocean. 4725 California Avenue SW; (206) 935-4339.

Bun Lai at Miya’s Sushi in New Haven is the mad scientist of the sustainable sushi movement: his largely vegetarian menu lists “invasive species” like moon snails (grilled with lime and sake soy) and Asian shore crabs (deep fried) that threaten East Coast shellfish. The only carnivorous fish on the menu are wild. “It’s not sustainable to feed other fish to a fish,” Lai says. 68 Howe Street; (203) 777-9760.