Supermarket sushi you'll actually want to eat
LOS ANGELES — I tend to grade supermarket sushi on a curve. Confined in plastic boxes under fluorescent lights in frigid deli cases, most packaged sushi takes all of the elements essential to good sushi and chucks them out the window in favor of convenience. Oftentimes it can be too cold, the fish cut too thick, the rice under- or overdone and poorly seasoned.
But sometimes there isn't the time, or money, for a proper sushi meal. Packaged sushi is readily available at just about every market in America, and for the most part it's reasonably priced.
The American packaged sushi boom most likely started opened what it claims was the first in-store sushi bar. Now, you can find sushi at Erewhon and almost every American grocery chain. But for the better stuff, you'll need to visit your local Japanese market. Some, such as Nijiya, use a central kitchen to make sushi for select locations, while others have in-house chefs. If you see a chef cutting the fish in the market, that's a good sign. Nigiri and temaki should be eaten soon after the fish has been sliced, the rice molded or nori folded. The less time your sushi is sitting in that deli case, the better.
