Monday, April 9, 2007

Straight Up Good Eats


The espresso episode was a nice change of pace for Alton Brown; then again isn't every episode? As much as I love the witty banter and diverse array of characters Alton brings to the show I also enjoy when he leaves all the clutter behind and focuses on a single topic. This past week reminded me of many of his older shows; particularly coffee brewing. Of course even then he had Chuck as a sidekick.

Alton whittled his way down to one espresso machine and I managed to locate it through the wonders of the internet. The Saeco 30013 Traditional. It comes in black (like in the show) or the ever popular stainless steel for about $300. Not something I would rush out and buy, but it has a lot of features, seems to get pretty consistent good ratings by its owners, and isn't a bad price for an espresso machine that has so many good qualities.

This season has been a new adventure every week. We've seen the insanely happy Alton, more refrigerator lady, new roles for Deb, and now we are treated to the everyday, plain ol' Alton. This is the guy we know from Feasting on Asphalt cruising around town with Chris Cognac. Speaking of.....it looks like Alton has a busy year already; more Good Eats episodes in production and the next FOA coming this summer!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Actually the Saeco Aroma is a glorified coffee maker as Alton should have been able to figure out if he had done his homework. The Lelit entry level models are about the same price and actually make espresso. It's the guts of the machine that make it an espresso maker and the Saeco doesn't have the right guts, it just makes strong coffee. Check out the coffee geeks website if you want more than you care to know about espresso machines.