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I'm sure that was it.

Yes, but where do you get THAT? Where do you live?

Zachary's post in your original topic is a good start at how to make great coffee. He owns a $150 burr grinder that has lasted 8 years. In my opinion, the best way to spend your money (if you have access to good quality, freshly roasted beans) is to buy a quality grinder. Then you can add to your coffee collection by starting with a cheap pour over pot, a Moka pot, an aeropress, and even a stovetop siphon unit. For instance, this Yama siphon pot is $36 at Amazon. For under $100, you can have a French press, a siphon pot, a pour-over unit and a Moka pot. Bottom line is it's about the beans and water. Take care of those aspects and quality coffee will be yours. As to your reference to steak...well, if you start with a lousy steak nothing you can do will make that steak better. Same with coffee - you have to start with good coffee.

Of course, a shot of espresso and a cup of coffee are two entirely different things. Can you tell us your budget? I am once again confused, as in your original topic you mentioned you wanted to save some money. And now you appear to want to spend money on some "reasonable priced equipment." So - what's reasonable in your book?

I always thought it was the first.

The new "concept" from Chipotle is called ShopHouse Kitchen. A piece recently ran on Huffington Post, and the following is written: My question: Isn't this similar to one of the concepts that was originally on the show? Or perhaps a combo of 2 of the losing concepts?

Over 2 years ago, I started a topic entitled Tired of the Alice Waters Backlash - Are You? My position was (and is) that I am tired of the backlash. I've always liked Alice and feel her contributions to our thinking about our relationships to food and how we eat have been invaluable. I've also always liked Mark Bittman. Well, not necessarily always, but most of the time. I mean, how much can you like a guy who got to drive all around Spain with Gwyneth and Claudia all the while eating great food and drinking probably what amounted to a decent amount of wine? But I do like him, because some of his books and much of his advice the about food - via columns, articles, TV, etc. has basically been right on. He works well with chefs, that's for sure. And when we here at eGullet challenged him about the recipe during the whole no-knead bread controversy, he took it in stride and reworked the recipe until it was better. Anyway, Mr. Bittman also writes the occasional editorial in this day and age, and this past Sunday he had the lead piece in the Times' Sunday Review section, entitled "Is Junk Food REALLY Cheaper?" The crux of the article is that obviously, junk food isn't cheaper; it's just easier. Of course, it's a little more complicated than that and where Alice would have you cooking the organic egg in your long handled copper spoon filled with EVOO over the fireplace in your kitchen, Bittman (or Bitty, as Gwyneth likes to call him) simply says: But, he then goes on to say: In a way, I find this quite similar to the oft-quoted story (and I'm paraphrasing badly here) of Alice telling people that instead of buying fancy sneakers they should instead buy organic grapes, but maybe I'm being too harsh on Bittman. Alice didn't want you to have fancy sneakers and Bittman wants you to stop watching TV and to start cooking. Just taking Alice a step further, don't you think?

It looks really great. With an afternoon and a xanax, I'm going to be giving it a try real soon.

Shoulder bacon... And French toast...

Although I do find that the middle doesn't get as hot as the portions over each of the burners. Which actually comes in handy.

I want to call it a plancha...because it sounds cool. It may not technically be a plancha - it's my reversible cast-iron stove top grill; you know the one - one side is flat and the other is ridged. Whatever it's called, I hardly use it...I guess because the grill side isn't really grilling, and if you've used the grill side and want to use the flat side, when you turn the sucker over all the drippings that dripped when you were "grilling" now get incinerated. But now I want to focus on using the flat side and yesterday I pulled it out of it's slot, heated it up and made breakfast, starting with griddling some Flying Pigs Farm's shoulder bacon... And finishing with some French toast, having been inspired by Fat Guy's French toast topic... The French toast came out quite good. The bacon, of course, was a no brainer. Do you own a plancha? If so, what do you use it for?

Well, he only one-starred it. I had some wonderful food at Bar Basque, but it was never somewhere I even considered going back to.

Interestingly enough, I've been getting into a new melon this summer - the Hami melon. It's a muskmelon, to be sure, but much crisper than a canteloupe. And with some cucumber overtones, which isn't that surprising, since they share the same family and genus.

I have mostly All-Clad (the old Masterchef line) and Mauviel - copper, stainless, aluminum. They all work fine. No particular favorite.

It's nice to have a saucepan that doesn't have the heat retention properties of the cast-iron/enamel.

I'm having a bit of a discussion with a friend, who is trying to convince me that a good omelet is golden brown on the outside. Hogwash, I say. A great omelet is pale and blonde on the outside, just runny on the inside. Golden browned eggs tend to be tough and dry. How do you like yours? Omelets, that is.

Looks like that darn short rib. Is your house in the Oakland hills?

When 2 of my friends were learning how to become "bartenders," as opposed to just drunks on the customer side of the stick, they would have the occasional speakeasy event, where friends were invited, everyone paid (say $10) and they'd make cocktails for all over the course of 2 hours. Of course, you need a decent amount of inventory to do the same, but if you invite a half- dozen or so friends over, and start with making the classics TM mentions above, that might help you a bit too.

I think it might be maguro.

Two words. Meat. Cone.

Make me even more jealous. How much?

The burger looks great...and the fries don't look bad either. Nice looking bun - does it hold up for the whole hamburger?

The short ribs are gonna be awesome.

Looking forward to this, ScottyBoy. But one question: How do you ride your bicycle from the East Bay to SF? I think I know the answer, but...

There are, of course, those who will miss Sifton dearly and hope the next critic carries the mantle of the style of writing which made Sifton, ummm, Sifton. Eddie Huang, of BaoHaus, is one of those. In his long blog post yesterday (when does this guy find the time to cook?), he wrote: So, while I'm sure there are plenty of folks around the cyberworld who, for whatever reasons are happy to see him go, I guess some wish he would stay.