Hunted almost to extinction in the Northern Pacific, it is indeed rare to find a Blue fin wandering around Catalina Island off Southern California these days, and even rarer that it was line-caught and wound up at the Water Grill Restaurant on the menu. I have no idea how this came about but it is on the menu for the next few days (July 8-15 2011).
The good news: Sushi connoisseurs adore the toro and maguro from a fish that was shunned by ancient samurai as they considered it unclean and would not eat it. The bad news: it has been hunted down to near extinction and it is unfortunate but with the demand so high there is no way that this will stop. Progress has been made for breeding this fish, which is prized for its fatty parts on the belly, in captivity.
