looking to buy the eye of a tuna loin...

LTH,

I need some help. I'm looking to buy some tuna that I can sear off and slice - I need it to be cut into rounds or squares about 2-3 inches wide. Picture a piece of pork tenderloin, and that's what I'm looking for. A little wider, perhaps. I've called Dirk's, The Fish Guy, Whole Foods and Fox and Obel. Each has told me I'd have to buy the entire loin, then cut away the eye if I wanted to. That might mean close to 50% wastage. In a restaurant kitchen I'd make that into tartare, but I don't have a use for it now. This is a rare occasion where the visual is even more important to me than the taste, so I'm even open to a frozen piece. I only need a couple of servings’ worth.

Any suggestions?

Kennyz

Maybe Mitsuwa Marketplace in Arlington Heights would be able to provide something like this.

=R=

Mitsuwa Marketplace
100 East Algonquin Rd
Arlington Heights, IL 60005-4618
(847) 956-6699

I also thought of Sea Ranch in Evanston.

Sea Ranch
518 West Dempster Street
Evanston, IL‎
(847) 492-8340‎

I'm surprised that Fish Guy didn't have it, that's where I've purchased the frozen sushi grade blocks before. Mitsuwa and Sea Ranch certainly have them. Did you ask the Fish Guy about frozen?

spinynorman99 wrote:I'm surprised that Fish Guy didn't have it, that's where I've purchased the frozen sushi grade blocks before. Mitsuwa and Sea Ranch certainly have them. Did you ask the Fish Guy about frozen?

good idea, and I tried it. He says he sometimes carries it, but not currently. Will probably head to Sea Ranch unless other ideas for fresh versions come in. Thanks, all, for the good advice so far.

I know I bought one of those frozen sushi-grade tuna blocks at the Super H-Mart in Virginia - it's quite possible that the one here carries them as well.

-Dan

I needed exactly that last wk for a tasting. I was shopping @ Whole Foods and figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Shockingly enough, they pulled out a loin, let me show them how I wanted them to cut it and then they did the deed. Not certain if it's policy or if I just lucked out.

H-Mart in Skokie has three places to look for that tuna. There's the freezer with the sushi grade fish nitrogen frozen, the fish mongers in the big stainless steel sinks, then the fish mongers at the end by the mounds of ice usually cutting up 3 foot long pieces of fish.

Jazzfood wrote:I needed exactly that last wk for a tasting. I was shopping @ Whole Foods and figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Shockingly enough, they pulled out a loin, let me show them how I wanted them to cut it and then they did the deed. Not certain if it's policy or if I just lucked out.

Which Whole Foods? I called the one on Ashland and they said no, but maybe they'd accommodate if I were right there in front of them trying my best to put on on the Jazzfood-like charm.

North Ave. I suggest going shortly after they open, while they're still setting up and before it gets crowded. Stare longingly @ the sliced 2-na loin and wish aloud in your best Barry White-Jazzfood like voice that if only it was cut the way you desire it, you'd surely purchase it. The woman opening took pity on my pout, walked in the back, got a whole A loin and cut it to my specs for $22 lb.

They also usually have a stash of sushi grade @ about $30 lb. that they don't put out- you gotta ask for it. The password is Sergio Mendes.

Jazzfood wrote:North Ave. I suggest going shortly after they open, while they're still setting up and before it gets crowded. Stare longingly @ the sliced 2-na loin and wish aloud in your best Barry White-Jazzfood like voice that if only it was cut the way you desire it, you'd surely purchase it. The woman opening took pity on my pout, walked in the back, got a whole A loin and cut it to my specs for $22 lb.

They also usually have a stash of sushi grade @ about $30 lb. that they don't put out- you gotta ask for it. The password is Sergio Mendes.

My singing voice sucks, so I went with the nonchalant, I-just-expect-that-you-will do-this-for-me approach. It worked, and the WF guy cut away a bunch of what I have to think will become scrap, and gave me just what I wanted. I put it to use here.

Thanks for the tip.

HI,

In a long ago post on Chowhound-Chicago, there was a woman who was quite vexed by a customer in front of her:

Big turn-off at Whole Foods from bibi rose Aug 14, 2003 wrote:Yesterday I was standing there waiting to be served. The woman ahead of me was making the server pick tofu out of a tofu-vegetable salad so that she got a whole tub of tofu with no vegetables. She was getting a huge amount, like a pound and a half or something.

I'd actually been planning to get that dish, but by the time it was my turn the tofu had been pretty much picked out of it. I mentioned this to the deli guy. He told me this woman comes in often and does this sort of thing, and so do other customers. I asked why they allow it, since it screws up the dish for anyone else who buys it, and he said they're not allowed to say no to a customer.

What you received was standard service at Wholefoods, which could have been had at any location.

I am not a regular Wholefoods shopper. Several times when making conversation with staff, they have offered to open packages to taste, which I did not even think I was asking. Another time the fish guy cooked up a fishcake when I inquired about how it tasted. I learned I needed to be careful what I inquired about, because I just might get it.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:What you received was standard service at Wholefoods, which could have been had at any location.

I have always received terrific service at Whole Foods - especially the Ashland Ave fish counter. But in this case, they gave me a friendly, apologetic "no" when I asked about cutting the fish to my specifications. North Avenue came through though.