Southeast Portland Photo Gallery | The #1 most sustainable restaurant in the U.S.? It's right here in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. - A local sushi hot spot has been ranked the #1 most sustainable restaurant in the United States.

Bamboo Sushi has only been around in Southeast Portland for a little over three years but is already making its mark, and in more ways than one.

First of all, let's talk about the #1 ranking, which comes from the popular Food Republic blog. Here's a look at the list (note that two restaurants are from the Northwest - Bamboo Sushi in Portland and Tilth in Seattle).

1. Bamboo Sushi - Portland, Oregon
2. Woodberry Kitchen - Baltimore, Maryland
3. Uncommon Ground - Chicago, Illinois
4. Blue Hill at Stone Barns, New York, New York
5. Tilth - Seattle, Washington
6. Red Stag Supper Club - Minneapolis, Minnesota
7. Founding Farmers - Washington, D.C.
8. Root Down - Denver, Colorado
9. The Farm on Adderly - Brooklyn, New York
10. Haven - Houston, Texas

So how do the folks who run Bamboo Sushi keep the restaurant sustainable? We talked to General Manager Brandon Hill to find out what they're doing that stands out. For one, they are very picky about where their seafood comes from.

"All of the seafood that we serve comes from fish stocks that are plentiful and which are harvested in a way that's not detrimental to the surrounding eco-system," Hill said.

Bamboo Sushi works in partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which provides them with information on fisheries around the world.

"They have a traffic light system," Hill explained. "They use green for the best choices, yellow are good alternatives if you can't get something off the best choice list and then the red list is for items to avoid."

The restaurant is also certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, which keeps a close eye on sustainable practices.

"You know that the piece of fish you're eating that has a certification comes from this exact body of water and is caught in this way and there's no question about it," Hill said.

Aside from the fish selection and their sustainable practices at the restaurant, Bamboo Sushi is also leaving its mark on the world in much bigger ways. The restaurant's owner, Kristofer Lofgren, partnered with the Nature Conservancy to purchase a 405,000 acre marine protected area in the Bahamas. Why, you ask?

"It's going a step beyond sustainability," said Hill. "How can we actually give back and help rebuild the eco-system that's out there?"

The idea behind marine protected areas is simple - provide a safe breeding ground for fish so stocks stay plentiful. That's important because researchers believe the world's fish supply will be depleted by the year 2048 due to overfishing, pollution and other factors. That's just 36 years from now.

• Washington Post, Nov, 3, 2006 - World's Fish Supply Running Out, Researchers Warn

It's that kind of caring and dedication to the world's bigger problems that makes Bamboo Sushi, and its owner and general manager, different. It's not surprising that they would be ranked the #1 most sustainable restaurant in the United States.

"We feel very honored to be with that group because when you look at that list of restaurants, it's some of the best restaurants in the United States that are doing things differently than everyone else - more environmentally," said Hill.

If You Go

Hill said Bamboo Sushi gets a wide variety of folks who stop in - from neighborhood residents to people who cross the Willamette River from the west side to stop in.

"We get a lot of families, a lot of professionals, people out on dates, people out for celebrations. The young crowd tends to come in during the happy hour times or late night," said Hill.

The prices are very reasonable - menu items range from $4 to $13.

"If you actually compare us to a lot of the other sushi restaurants around town, we're on par, if not cheaper, than a lot of them," said Hill. "Especially when you compare farm-raised salmon to wild Alaskan-caught salmon and imitation crab to Oregon's dungeness crab."

And believe it or not, Hill said many times he can even tell customers the name of the person who caught their meal.

"We know that Paul goes out and catches our albacore and we know that Bruce goes out and catches our king salmon," Hill said, as an example.

And yes, for those who watch Portlandia, it's a little like that chicken skit they did.

"That actually resonated with me quite a bit because it is what we do," said Hill. "People come in and ask where the fish came from and we can tell you."

The restaurant is located at 310 S.E. 28th Avenue. A second Bamboo Sushi restaurant will be opening up in a few months at Northwest 23rd and Kearney.

• Read reviews on Yelp