When I've heard about this in the past it has nothing to do with the places serving it and everything to do with the people selling them the fish. It's not just a Chicago thing either - there are a few species of fish which seem to be widely sold as other things.

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Well yea this is nothing new. Florida is dealing with a similar situation and Grouper. Many restaurants had been passing off tilapia or cat fish as grouper at many months in Tampa Bay Restaurants till till the St. Petersburg times exposed them.

Not ne but a scam even most food folks can taste and tourists(the main targets) can not. Shameful.

P.S. Chicago sushi WTF. I laugh as a Chicago native.

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there is no true red snapper served as sushi in the states. at best, red snapper (or tai) will be sea bream, which is very similar (but not red snapper as the japanese intended), but at worst your snapper will be tilapia, which btw is a nasty, bottom feeding, dirt tasting farmed fish with white flesh.

madai, is and should be true red snapper from the japanese side of the pacific. its a little bit pricier but very good.

this is not unique to chicago. ive worked sushi for a very long time and have seen this bicoastally, but sadly enough in chicago where i live.

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there was a similar situation in New York. The New York Times found that many purveyors selling "wild" salmon were in fact selling farmed salmon. Caveat Emptor!

http://malemartha.blogspot.com

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I look for sushi restaurants which have their Japanese equivalent. I look for tai, which is really sea breem. It's similar to sushi places that use "white tuna" on their menu. White tuna which would translate to shiro maguro is actually albacore tuna. However some places serve escolar, which can cause diarrhea as "white tuna". I don't even know if Japanese sushi restaurants even serve the stuff. A lot of the American restraunts use escolar as the Japanese name.

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Escolar is in fact served at many reputable sushi restaurants, but should be labeled as "super white tuna" and not "white tuna." True escolar is also hard to be sure of, since many restaurants substitute with something known as "butterfish" which is really what causes diarrhea.

Small amounts of escolar (6 oz or less) does generally cause any intestinal problems, and is quite tasty!

Good escolar is very pure white, has a creamy and clean taste with a light lemony aftertaste... it's excellent as a last piece of sushi because of how clean it is. But beware of where you order, because if the restaurant uses butterfish, you will likely be unhappy for about 24 hours.

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I always find it amusing that writers for Slashfood seem to be assigned stories about things they dislike. Seems like nearly every story begins with, "Now, I hate cheese, but here's my review of this new Cheddar," or "I don't eat sushi, but here's some news about it."

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And its not just fish that is substituted in the market and restaurants! Scallops can be cut (stamped) out of shark meat fillets and taste identical. Unless you know what to look for you would never know. Remember the grain is a real scallop is vertical and the shark meat will be horizontal.

I have also seen a restaurant in Baltimore, MD that had a sign out front on the way in “Special Twin Fresh Maine Lobster.” Needless to say that growing up in Maine eating my fair share of lobster, what they were serving was oversized craw fish or something of the like. After looking around and seeing all of the people with the craw dads on their plates and a chat with the owner, my party ate for free. I was the owner worst nightmare that knight and I’ll bet he was none to happy to get me out of there with out saying a word.

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The only "sushi" (which should be correctly called "sashimi" - the "sushi" is just the vinegared rice used) I like is octopus. The web photo shows some red-fleshed fish that looks like salmon or steelhead trout. Red snapper flesh is white. Only the skin is reddish. And finally, talapia is actually quite tasty (contrary to another commenter).

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Shari is the Japanese word for the vinegared rice. Sashimi is served sans rice entirely. The picture above is served on rice and as such is appropriately called sushi.

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For the record, Gobo, we aren't 'assigned' anything. We choose the topics we want to write about based on what we personally find to be interesting (or delicious, or nasty, or whatever).

You can also send us news tips if there is something that you want covered, or have covered on your own blog that you'd like us to spotlight.

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"The New York Times found that many purveyors selling "wild" salmon were in fact selling farmed salmon."

Clearly, when describing the salmon as "wild", the purveyors were referring to the fishes' disposition, i.e. "Salmon Gone Wild" and not where they were caught. I don't see anything wrong with that.

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And, if late night movie channels have taught me anything, isn't some of the wildest action at farms? I'm just saying.

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the salmon were showing their fishy boobs and showering with other salmon in a sexual manner? wicked!

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Bob, Joanne, thanks for the correction; I'd assumed incorrectly that writers were assigned stories.

That said, I wasn't being critical of your writing. Most food-review blog writers are fanatics about the food they review, so they're writing about chocolate from a chocoholic perspective, for example. Writers on Slashfood are honest about whether they detest beer before offering their review of a new lager, which is kinda cool and, like I said, it amuses me.

And Bob, I didn't say this was a sushi 'review', I said it was 'news'. Relax.

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