A Yummy Farewell

I am sad to say that today’s Yummy letter will be our last. GraceAnn and I have savored every minute of it; however, in these tough economic times we simply could not raise enough advertising dollars to sustain the project, and, unfortunately, we have run out of money. No money means no Web designer, and no Web designer means no e-letter or Web site.

If you have enjoyed what you’ve seen here, you can still keep up with our food and wine and other writings in the following places:

You can find my restaurant reviews, chef interviews, food related cover stories, and the annual “Best of Food & Wine” issue in

Northside San Francisco magazine, which is distributed throughout the northern neighborhoods of the City door-to-door as well as to news racks, stores, restaurants, and cafes on the first of each month. You can also find me in the

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food section, where I write a monthly restaurant review and a column similar to DISHING called “10 Questions with Chef…”. If you’re a dog lover, I also write a column called “Jasmine Blue’s Tails of the Dog Park” where I write about everything from how my dog got me through the death of my father to the results of her DNA test to the tireless efforts of rescue groups like Rocket Dog Rescue.

You will find more entertaining and informative wine writing from Steve Heimoff on his wonderful blog, in Wine Enthusiast magazine, and in his books.

For recipes, you can check out Bill Knutson’s in the “Kitchenless Cook”, Bibby’s at Parties that Cook, and North Bay Patricia’s at her blog.

And, of course, you will find the inimitable GraceAnn Walden’s writings about all things food in various food and wine publications. You will also find her as a regular guest on the

Ronn Owens show and a guest host on Gene Burns’ Dining Around. And there are no better tours of San Francisco’s foodie neighborhoods, from North Beach to Chinatown, than GraceAnn’s – you can email her for more information.

If you haven’t caught up with all of the previous Yummy letters, you can always find them on the

Yummy Web site in the Yummy archives.

We cannot thank all of you enough for reading, for writing, and for letting us know how much you enjoyed the Yummy letter.

Last but not least, I wanted to thank our advertisers for their support – we will be adding all of their ads to the

Northside Web site – please join us in thanking them by checking out their ads there and by visiting their businesses. Without them, the Yummy letter would not have existed at all, and for that the Yummy team will be forever grateful.

Yummy regards,

Susan Dyer Reynolds

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A Word from GraceAnn

It’s been six enjoyable months, despite the fact we had a difficult time selling advertising.

After being out of the scene for three years, concentrating on my walking tours, freelance writing and my garden, it was gratifying to know that I had my old tenacity when it came to Scoops.

Yes, I ferreted out the winner of Top Chef Masters, got the real story on the Appleman’s departure from A16 and Laurent Manrique’s resignation from Aqua, Brenda’s expansion, Spices in Foster City, doubts about Bar Florence, the Novato diner rip-off, “Great American Food & Music Fest" disaster, and many stories behind the stories rushed into print and on the Net elsewhere.

It’s one thing to know about a new place or a closure, but I have always been interested primarily in the people involved in the food and beverage business. I think that is the real story. It’s probably because many moons ago, I walked those planks and also had that dream of my own cafe.

One thing I hadn’t foreseen, when Susan and I partnered to produce Yummy, was how much I would enjoy writing recipes, cookbook reviews and wrangling others to write for us.

I am grateful for our advertisers and readers support and above all Susan’s spiritual, artistic and financial backing.

And last but not least, a big thanks to Jeremy Joven who carried the stone up the mountain many Tuesday nights. Thank you for your design and your dedication.

It’s been a thrill!

And for that reason, although the Yummy letter is retired, I will launch my own blog of scoop, recipes, and stories about people in the industry this fall.

As I always say, “stay tuned.”

Everyone that is currently on the Yummy list will be transferred automatically to my blog.  If you want to make sure you’re on the list or would like to add someone, just email me.

A Yummy thanks,

GraceAnn

Two vital facts have been overlooked in the reportage of Laurent Manrique’s resignation after six years from Aqua restaurant and the Aqua Development Group on July 23.

Manrique said he could no longer effectively do his job. One important aspect of that was keeping the 17-year-old restaurant looking good.

With the estate of Condy tied up in the courts since Charles Condy’s death in 2006, the tug-o-war between his widow Mary and his three children from his first marriage Chris, Joe and Kerry has the restaurant stalled...

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