From The Consumerist, Chicago Sun Times.

The Chicago Sun Times ran an interesting story today on Red Snapper, or ‘Tai’, served in sushi restaurants in the Chicago area.  The Times went to 14 restaurants in the city and suburbs, ordered snapper, and ran DNA tests on the fish.

The results?  Not a single one was actually red snapper.

In some cases, some of the fish were tilapia, a cheap fish that any hawaiian can catch with a string, a paper chip and some meat in the ala wai canal.  Other restaurants used sea bream, which apparently is close to snapper in price, but still not snapper.

The reason for the, ahem, bait and switch?  There are normally only a few suppliers of sushi-grade fish in a city, and if one of these suppliers is switching out the snapper for something else, restaurants will likely sell the substitute as snapper without knowing any better.

There are also 250 snapper species worldwide, with only one being classified as actual Red Snapper.  This, along with the growing popularity of red snapper, as well as a general inability for most consumers to tell the difference, makes it relatively easy to substitute one fish for another.

The article also uncovers an old tactic among sushi restaurants - renaming fish to attract customers.  Selection, as we’ve mentioned here, is an attribute of the best sushi restaurants, and at least some restaurants use inventive names of fish to make their selection seem more unique.  Also, customers identify more strongly with some names than others, so, as the article mentions, fishes such as sea bream, a poorly known fish, are called red snapper.

I’m guess that without any oversight this tactic will continue.  Most consumers, myself included…even many sushi chefs, can’t tell the difference between very similar species of fish.  If they’re told a fish is red snapper, they’ll think it’s red snapper as long as it looks a certain way.

And as sushi becomes increasingly trendy, look for new fish to emerge.  We’re already in a ‘Kanpachi’ revolution - a fish that is farmed in Kona, HI.  I think the next trend is to see fake blue fin tuna and other rare species.  We’ll see - tell us about your sushi experiences - is your snapper real or fake?

Akane is a nondescript sushi joint hidden away in downtown Los Altos.  With about room for 30 diners and another 8 at the sushi bar, Akane is a comfortable medium-sized restaurant.

Akane is a true Japanese-owned sushi restaurant.  The menu has a host of traditional japanese selections, like nameko soup, shishito (japanese peppers), beef tataki, and gindara kasuzuke.  With that said, Akane does have a good selection of Americanized rolls and teriyaki dinners.

We sat at the sushi bar, which was actually pretty small.  A large TV was placed high in the right corner of the bar - perfect for viewing Giants games, or the NBA playoffs.  The casual atmosphere works well for Akane - it gives you the low key feeling of a neighborhood joint, rather than the uptight, slacks only environment of more trendy upscale sushi bars.

As for the sushi, it was well done.  Our nigiri including mirugai, tai, aji and kanpachi.  The portions were decent, and the fishes, even the difficult to keep aji, were fresh and without a hint of fishiness.

However, SushiAttack noticed some pre-sliced fish, a time saving move that can dramatically reduce the shelf life of fresh items.  Popular items like maguro and sake got this treatment, and since we did not try these items it’s hard to judge what effect this had on quality.  Either way, this is not ideal protocol for fish handling.

We also got a salmon skin roll, which was excellent, and a natto maki, which was good.  Along the way, the chef also treated us with a deep fried aji bone (which seemed to be fried some time ago) and yamagobo with sesame.

From the kitchen, we order a beef tataki and beef negi roll.  The tataki was well done, with slightly seared, thinly sliced pieces of beef laying beneath garnishes of onion and grated daikon.  The accompanying sauce was a bit ordinary - just plain ponzu it seemed - but good nonetheless.

The beef negi roll was satisfying, with tender beef wrapped around a slightly spicy green onion.  Covered in teriyaki sauce, this dish could have been an excellent starter, except it arrived 30 minutes into the meal.

Now for the ratings:

-Food:  B+  The food was good, but with the exception of the salmon skin roll, nothing was outstanding.  But as sushi is concerned, this place does a very good job with freshness and fish quality, the only question mark is the pre-cutting of some sushi items.

-Selection:  B  Akane had some specials like Blue Fin tuna, Tombo and Toro, but these are standard specials that you will find at any decent sushi restaurant.  More impressive was the menu selection, with a wide range of traditional japanese appetizers that you will not find at Korean-owned sushi places.  Still, the best Akane can get is a B, due to it’s sushi selection.

-Service:  B+  The waitress and sushi chefs were very attentive.  Unlike some places where you sit at the bar and wonder who you order from, the sushi chef addressed us relatively quickly and our drink orders were taken with little delay as well.

-Ambience:  C  Akane is not much to look at - but again that is part of it’s neighborhood charm.  The tatami rooms behind us, which are traditional japanese style with no holes cut for you legs, were dark and unkept, with one room converted into a to-go preparation area.  The rest of the restaurant was decently kept, but unspectacular.

-Overall:  B  Akane is a great local sushi bar, with very reasonable prices (our dinner came to $35 per person, with a beer, before tip) and a comfortable atmosphere.  The appetizer selection of Akane stands out, although the sushi selection was just average.  Without any attributes that are truly spectacular, Akane is a solid ‘B’ - I look forward to spending more time there, and the TV at the bar makes Akane a perfect place for the playoffs.  But, if I was looking for the best in the bay, or trying to impress a date, Akane would not hold weight against other upscale restaurants in the area.

Akane Japanese Restaurant

250 3rd St
Los Altos, CA 94022

(650) 941-8150