More Beautifull and a nosh from New York

We got some interesting comments on last week’s SCOOP story on the company Beautifull, a prepared food purveyor, opening in the Laurel Village shopping center.

One busy married professional, who requested anonymity and who I have know personally for many years, had this to say:

“They started selling the packaged lunches and dinners at Woodland’s Market (in Kentfield) a few weeks ago. From our limited experience, they’re horrible. My wife got one with shrimp that she had to toss because the shrimp was slimy and stinky. I got a salmon and Caesar salad. The fish was way overcooked and the salad was mostly rusty lettuce. I tossed that one, too. I wouldn’t put one more penny into their pockets. The packaging ‘s nice, though.”

Susan (DINE writer, and co-owner of the Yummy letter) and yours truly are in New York City this week. Stay tuned for our reports here, and in print in next month’s Northside San Francisco.

Restaurants are somewhat busy in New York; Times Square was packed with people, but cabbies say things are slow.

In SoHo, I saw that Fiamma, a stylish Italian restaurant that was once all the rage, had closed. We asked the owner of a nearby trattoria what happened to it and he said, “Most of their customers were from Wall Street and …”

Town has filed for bankruptcy; Lever House Restaurant has also closed.

On the other hand, Keste, a truly Neapolitan pizza place, threw their doors open a month ago and is kicking it in the Village.

My pal, uber-travel and food writer, Laurie Werner, who lives in Manhattan, predicts a big shake out of the top tier dining establishments in New York.

“It feels like the energy has been drained out of the City,” she opined.

I agree to some extent, but as someone who couldn’t wait to emigrate from New Jersey to Manhattan immediately after high school, Manhattan to me is like sex – even when it’s just so-so it’s good.

They say that there are 16,790 restaurants in Manhattan (enough to dine at a different one every night for 46 years) and it’s true you can get anything in the world to eat, including Latin vegan food. Who knew?

Trust me, Susan and I did our best to make a dent in the offerings – stay tuned.

Contact GraceAnn to learn about her food-history tours of San Francisco E-mail: graceann@yummyletter.com

To read GraceAnn’s monthly column in Northside San Francisco, “Chef’s Chat,” visit www.northsidesf.com/chefschat.html.