ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco launched its first in-store sushi in the United States at its Issaquah branch earlier this month and has plans to bring its rolls and sashimi to select markets across the country, a high-ranking source at the company's Issaquah headquarters told The Seattle Times on condition of anonymity because they have not been authorized to speak to media.
Costco executives declined to comment for this story.
While Costco's legion of fans is wondering if sushi will be the next big thing along the line of its famed hot dog and rotisserie chicken, Costco has not decided which branches or how many stores will start selling sushi, the source said.
Much will be contingent on kitchen space, since its sushi operation requires significant real estate, the source said. At Issaquah, for instance, the store now has a rice room, a sushi station and a display case, and the source said other Costco stores won't be able to devote that much valuable space just to sell sushi.
The secret sushi project started last October, with Costco's culinary team testing batches at its R&D kitchen near its Issaquah store. Costco also flew a team out to Japan to work with "rice masters" to help the big-box chain perfect a grain that would retain its moisture and not dry out over the course of a day like other grocery chains' sushi, the source said.
After several test runs, Costco settled on the short-grain "Tamaki Gold Rice," which possesses the right sticky consistency and doesn't dry out in the fridge when stored below 40 degrees, as required by health regulations, the source said.
On June 13, three rice consultants from Japan were at the Issaquah branch, testing batches of cooked grains and watching as more than a dozen workers assembled the rice and raw fish. For the final assembly stage, the shrimp, salmon and tuna nigiri are formed by a robotic arm, while the rolls are formed by an automated machine.
Costco was hoping for a quiet launch to buy its staff time to work out the kinks, but all bets were off once customers started posting on social media about the California rolls made with real crab. In recent days, the Issaquah Costco has arguably become the most talked-about restaurant on the Eastside.
That Friday and Saturday, its kitchen staff couldn't make sushi fast enough, as plastic trays of fish were quickly snatched up by eager customers and the shelves sat mostly empty.
By the following Monday, the buzz had died down enough that Costco had a display case stacked with three different rolls, three different nigiri sushi and a sashimi offering. At least for now, Costco will make sushi as early as 3 a.m. daily to keep up with the demand.
The store hopes to offer eight to 10 different sushi items every day, with fresh items put out at least four times per day. Unlike most chain grocery delis, Costco plans to remove all sushi that does not sell from the display case within 24 hours.
This is not the big-box chain's first foray into this popular Japanese cuisine. Costco has a sushi program at its branches in Hawaii, but the sushi is made by contractors and not by its staff, and not at the scale of Issaquah's, the source said.
Issaquah's sushi program is similar to the ambitious in-store sushi programs that Costco runs in Japan and South Korea.
So how good is it? We tested some of Costco's highly anticipated sushi. Here's our early impression.
The spicy salmon roll and the spicy ahi tuna roll ($14.99 per pound each):
The staff boasted that these rolls feature fresh Atlantic salmon that was raised without antibiotics and that the ahi tuna was "wild caught," but I couldn't even tell you which fish was in which rolls. I tasted mostly rice and mayo. The rice, though, is as good as advertised, sweet and nutty, and it stayed moist even seven hours after it was made. The rolls didn't disintegrate as easily as sushi rolls from other grocery chains.
A tray of nigiri with salmon, tuna and cooked shrimp ($16.99 per pound, about a dozen pieces per order)
A better ratio of fish to rice, it's a substantial lunch for under $18 and a class above the sushi offerings at many grocery chains — especially for the wild-caught tuna — dense, firm slivers of ahi that didn't have that slimy, squishy texture of day-old sushi sold in the display cases at some grocery stores. (When it comes to grocery-store sushi, the bar isn't that high.) It's a misfire, though, on the Atlantic salmon, which still had pin bones attached. Otherwise, Costco's nigiri is on par in quality with a lot of the conveyor belt sushi spots around town.
The sashimi tray with salmon, ahi tuna and scallop ($29.99 per pound, about a dozen pieces)
The higher price point may explain why customers were not picking up the $26-$29 sashimi trays as enthusiastically as they were buying up the rolls. But this is Costco's best offering. The quality is just as good, if not better than what you might find at your neighborhood sushi restaurant. This is why customers shell out $60 for a Costco membership. You can't get sashimi this good at this price range at other grocery stores or restaurants, especially for the sweet, plump wild-caught Hokkaido sea scallops, the prize of Costco's sushi program. The types of fish in the sashimi trays may vary by day. On this visit, the tray also came with farmed-raised Atlantic salmon and wild-caught ahi tuna.
