What’s the Story with Sustainable Sushi?

If you want to spend two hundred and fifty dollars per person on sushi omakase, there are plenty of options in New York, all trying to out-boast one another about the quality and rarity of ingredients flown in daily from fish markets on the other side of the world. What draws you to Bar Miller is, most likely, its recusal from that competition and the shameless carbon footprint it entails: as at Rosella, the restaurant prioritizes local fish and ingredients and avoids overfished species. (This selectivity extends to the beverage list, which is made up of entirely domestic wines, sakes, and ciders, mostly from New York State.) The shrimp is from South Carolina. The mackerel is from Virginia. The wasabi, however, comes all the way from Oregon—“We’ll take the L on that one,” Dumapit laughed; to his knowledge, the fiery root has never been successfully commercially cultivated on the East Coast.