By Gus Saltonstall
While high-quality fish is undoubtedly a part of Citarella’s reputation, sushi is generally not among the first associations with the Upper West Side food emporium.
The sushi offered by the Upper West Side grocer, though, was just named among the best in New York City by the food publication Eater New York.
There is a proviso. Eater published a ranking this month of the “Best Affordable Sushi in NYC,” and Citarella at 2135 Broadway, between West 74th and 75th streets, was included among the 15 eateries to earn a spot on the ranking.
“The sushi is made during the day on a continuous basis, packaged in trays, and deposited in a reach-in case,” Eater NY wrote about the Citarella sushi. “Bargain assortments sufficient for a light meal come in at around $15 and above, often including four or five nigiri and a maki roll.”
West Side Rag also visited the Upper West Side grocer on Wednesday morning, and found multiple roll selections for $7.45 and $9.75.
Citarella was one of the few non-restaurants to make the Eater NY sushi ranking.
The Upper West Side food emporium also has an expansive fish selection.
Citarella opened in Upper Manhattan in 1912, before moving to its Upper West Side location near West 75th Street a few years later. In the early 1980s, Joe Gurrera, who was already established at the famous Fulton Fish Market, bought the store and reshaped its focus to prioritize seafood even more.
Gurrera still runs Citarella, which has opened multiple other locations.
You can check out the full sushi ranking — HERE.
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Fort. Wow i would not have expected that. Second. Is there still a location on around 110th? I have only gone to the location in the ,70s. Congrats to them Third. I thought it was called the Fulton Street Fish Market. I can still recall the smell.
I’ve purchased sushi at Citarella and I was very impressed. Eater didn’t include Gari. I haven’t been there in a while but myself and a few others always considered it one of the best
Gari is marvelous but it would not make the list of inexpensive sushi by any stretch. One that they did leave off their list was One Bite Omakase, which I’ve been to several times and is outstanding
FWIW, that California roll looks terrible.
It looks delicious — it’s brown rice.
I’ve always found the sushi at Citarella to be undercooked.
You’ve done it again, Cato.
HA! 🙂 Love this.
Sushi is raw fish. It isn’t supposed be cooked.
Duh! It was meant to be funny!
Citarella is a very unique store and known for their top-of-the-line meats and fish… We’re very bless to have such gourmet
stores like Citarella, Zabar’s, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s right here in our neighborhood steps away from our homes right here on the UPPER WEST SIDE.
“There is a proviso.”
So just what, exactly is the proviso? The article never says.
That the sushi is affordable. See the line after the one you mentioned–“Best Affordable Sushi in NYC,”
Of all the great sushi selections you had to pick a California roll to photograph. It’s not real sushi since it contains no fresh raw fish. Anyone judging best sushi also wouldn’t have picked one made with brown rice.
Sushi refers to the rice and you can absolutely have sushi without “fresh raw fish.”
Sushi there is great! Grab it for lunch every now and then
Sorry but “best affordable sushi” is not “ best sushi” as the headline attests. This is a low bar. Their sushi is tasteless.
i have been enjoying Citarella’s sushi for many years. It’s fresh and delicious!
I miss the window displays they did years ago with the fish arranged in all sorts of fascinating designs.
Their offerings are nothing special and don’t seem to be replenished very often. The terrible location IN the checkout line makes it difficult to really peruse the choices. They could improve these issues.
At one point in the 1980’s, Citarella had a lovely but short-lived Oyster bar!
Wegman’s has very good affordable sushi. Whenever I’m in the Astor Place area I stop by Wegman’s and bring home sushi for the family.
I can’t wait for their UWS location to open!
Until rather recently all one had to do was wait until closing time and could nab all free sushi wanted from Citarella locations.
UES, UWS, West Village.. every night Citarella threw out tons of unsold sushi, rotisserie meats, baked goods and so on. Much to delight of dumpster divers and others. People were lining up with granny carts and those huge Fresh Direct shopping bags to stuff them full of goods.
Sadly for them things got too out of hand and Citarella shut it all down.
Anthony Bourdain once said he had a rule: “Never eat supermarket sushi.” I observed it for a long long time. However the Citarella salmon roll (the cooked salmon not the raw salmon) was very good this week and I substituted balsamic vinaigrette instead of traditional soy sauce. Very tasty.
the california roll sums up Gus perfectly
The sushi at Key Food at 96th and Amsterdam is very good and not expensive.