caviar?

Where is a good place to purchase caviar and which caviar? I’m thinking of a small amount for Chistmas eve. Thank you.

Paramount Caviar: http://www.paramountcaviar.com/
Russ and Daughters: http://shop.russanddaughters.com/store/department/1/Caviar/

Zabars

I just buy mine at a local culinary shop, but tried Kelley’s Katch once and it was good. They’re domestic caviar. The store I use for domestic is called Surfa’s. IIRC they opened one in Costa Mesa so you could call them. I am not a Richie-rich so find the imported stuff not worth the recent large spread in price over domestic. Petrossian in BevHills has some damned good stuff though.

Has anyone tried the farmed Russian Osetra they have at Costco? I’d hesitate to buy it without positive feedback, but at $49.99 for 1-3/4 oz. it COULD BE a good deal.

Do not buy at R&D or Zabars. Bad quality and pricing. Unfortunately the easy answer is the best - Caviar Russe or Petrossian.

As John noted, Petrossian has a restaurant and shop near BH (it’s on Melrose in West Hollywood). Great quality for a very big price.

I have been on a caviar kick recently and doing lots of research / tasting:

-Farmed is good, so is domestic farmed. Quality is more importent than origin once you get over a certain baseline.

-it goes bad fast and the difference between “a point” caviar and older stuff is remarkable, especially textually, and texture is extremely important with caviar. Eggs should pop.

  • a lot of otherwise reputable stores sell shitty caviar

  • sometimes the differences in price don’t reflect quality differences. Osetra and Servuga are more different than better / worse. The good shops have multiple quality levels within each kind so that if you prefer, eg, osetra texture / flavor, they can give you the best in that. I was traditionally taught beluga - Servuga - osetra but that’s wrong. And now there are other options from hybrids and less-historically-known species or sturgeon. You’re more reliant on the advice / curation of a top merchant these days.

  • the quality is spectacular right now, much better than the nadir in the early aughts

  • in NYC at least, for caviar of equivalent quality, petrossian and caviar Russe are price competitive. Zabars et al are also selling cheaper caviar next to the good stuff, but it’s also not as good quality wise . Apples to apples the pricing is remarkably consistent.

Had great luck here -

That’s a really good find if the quality is there. $50/oz for the Israeli Osetra is a really good price, I’ve seen that for almost double the price elsewhere.

I’m a current customer who has ordered from them for years.

Does anybody have any experience with Browne Trading Company? I know they supply the seafood for a lot of top restaurants (e.g. Le Bernardin, Daniel, and Per Se), but apparently they’ve also got a big caviar program. I’d like to buy from them (they’re local for me) if possible.

Costco fairly reliable and good quality. Great customer service through Plaza.

Another Kelley’s Katch vote.

The most amazing caviar I have enjoyed was from Albino sturgeon, extraordinarily expensive but a beautiful creamy taste.

I once had bad Costco caviar, but that’s in comparison to the good stuff.

I have extensive experience with Browne Trading Co., but not with their caviar. The quality of their seafood is outstanding. The only issue I have with them is that they screw up nearly every order in one way or another (wrong quantity of oysters, fish not skinned that was supposed to be skinned, wrong kind of fish delivered etc.) It’s happened so many times, it’s almost like they are trying to make mistakes. So if you do order, call multiple times to double check the details of your order and the shipping.

Thanks Sarah. I live near Portland, so I think I’ll just go directly to the shop and point at the tins :slight_smile: That way, I’ll hopefully get to do a little pre-purchase tasting too.

Haven’t had the farmed Russian, but tried the farmed Bulgarian Osetra last year and it was very good. Their current deal on 6 oz. @ $199,99 is a chicken dinner winner: http://www.costco.com/Plaza-Osetra-Farmed-Bulgarian-Sturgeon-Caviar-2-oz.-Jar-3-pack.product.100020644.html

Not an expert in Caviar, but a couple years ago we go a Plaza 3-pack from Costco. The Plaza Baerii was the one that made Lori say “oh, now I get it” firm eggs and flavor like an ocean breeze. The other two in the pack I don’t recall, but they weren’t as good, more fishy flavor and mushy texture.

Another vote for the Costco product. tried a sampler a few years ago with Wilfred and felt the product/value/flavor were all very solid. Robert’s deal above has me taking a very close look at those for Christmas…