SOMETHING FISHY ABOUT THIS SWORDFISH

“I didn’t know about them until I started working in the kitchen myself,” says Gerri Gilliland, proprietor of Gilliland’s in Santa Monica. “They really turn me off.” Michael Roberts, chef-partner at Trumps in West Hollywood, calls them “yucky.” According to Wolfgang Puck, “They’re big and black and really ugly.”

The subject is parasites. Big, black, unsightly ones that local chefs have been noticing lately in the flesh of that delicious denizen of the deep, swordfish. As Roberts explains: “Sometimes you find them when you cut into a big piece of fish. They look like sea worms, and are about a quarter of an inch in diameter. They seem to live in the muscle of the fish.” When he encounters the things, the whole piece of fish goes back to the purveyor. “There’s no way for the suppliers to tell if there are parasites present,” he explains, “unless they cut the fish up themselves.”

Gilliland says you can sometimes predict the presence of parasites by what looks like a large claw mark on the skin of the fish. She, too, sends the whole piece back when she finds them. Both Roberts and Gilliland believe there’s nothing particularly dangerous about these wormy intruders, however unpleasant they may look, and both still serve uninfested swordfish--though Gilliland says: “I’ll never eat a piece of it again myself. The whole idea really turns me off.”

Puck notes that he seldom serves swordfish in the first place, mostly because everybody else uses it--but when he does, he buys whole fish from Hawaii and finds that they’re much less likely to host parasites than imports from other areas.

But what are these parasites, anyway--and just how dangerous are they? I asked those questions of Jack Sheneman, food technology specialist with the food and drug branch of the California Department of Health Services in Sacramento.

“They’re nematodes,” he said, “probably Anisakian nematodes,” but he had never heard of them infesting swordfish before. “I’m surprised,” he said. “Usually they don’t get into deep-ocean fish. Generally, fish from the Continental Shelf have more of a problem--rockfish and so on.” The nematodes, he continued, go through several larval stages, progressing into larger and larger sea creatures. In rockfish and the like, they’re probably in their third larval stage, he says, and if they’re eaten raw by human beings--in sushi, for instance--they can develop into a higher larval level in the digestive system. “When that happens,” he says, “they can sometimes crawl up into the throat and out a person’s nose. This isn’t really harmful, but it’s pretty unpleasant. On the other hand, they can penetrate the intestinal tract and the body responds by building cell walls around them. These become tumors, and have to be removed by surgery.” (This is certainly something to think about the next time you’re masticating your maguro .) But, Sheneman adds, “If the fish is properly cooked, the parasites are dead and are no problem at all.” That certainly makes me feel better.

Anyone for a nice juicy steak?

RED FACE ON THE SUNSET: Contrary to what I reported in this column last Sunday, La Terazza on the Sunset Strip is not “former,” nor is chef Claude Segal set to take the place over. Anita Spinello, co-owner of the restaurant, points out that La Terazza has been in business in Brentwood since 1981 and on the strip since 1984--and that both locations are still thriving. Segal and his partner, well-known local maitre d’hotel Henri Labadie, have been approaching her and her husband since the beginning of the year, Spinello says, but no deal has been struck yet. She adds that there is no way Segal could open his own place on the site by November, as he had predicted, even if an agreement is reached soon.

SIDE ORDERS: The Parkway Grill in Pasadena presents “Picnic at the Parkway” today, noon to 3:30 p.m., featuring four premium sparkling wines from Schramsberg (with Schramsberg boss Jack Davies in attendance), plus appropriately picnicky snacks. Cost is $40 per person. . . . Gordon Drysdale, who was the first chef at Ravel in the Sheraton Grande downtown, has been named chef/consultant for Philippe/Philippe, scheduled to open this fall on the site of the late Gatsby’s in Brentwood. . . . Roland Gibert, formerly of Bernard’s, will open Califia at the new Radisson Plaza Hotel in Manhattan Beach later this month.