Sad news food writing wise on two fronts today. First comes news that the venerable Gourmet magazine will be shutting down operations as part of a cost-cutting move spurred by a decline in ad revenues by parent company Conde Nast. A Gourmet byline is a holy grail among food writers and, under the editorial leadership of Ruth Riechl, some of the magazine's content was simply poetic. The loss of Gourmet's print concern leaves a void. A Conde Nast memo indicates that Gourmet's tv programming, book publishing, and recipes on epicurious.com will remain unchanged. more ›

• Hot on the heels of L2O's Beard nomination, Laurent Gras offers recommendations for cookware, appliances, spices and other kitchen essentials for the home cook over. The $279 brick toaster oven with convection from Cuisinart pictured above is among those listed. Also oin the list, a Pasquini Livia 90 semi-auto espresso machine ($1975 at Amazon.com). [men.style.com]
• Sun-Times food editor Janet Rausa Fuller also has some gadget recommendations, but at a more reasonable price range. [Sun-Times]
• Last week it was Pat Bruno, this week Helen Rosner casts a critical glare at Steve Dolinsky. [WBEZ, MP Chicago]