A magazine with issues: Gourmet comes back to the newsstand—sort of

Gourmet magazine may have kicked the bucket last October, but its recent death twitches have some wondering if a resurrection is in the offing. First, June saw the launch of Gourmet Live, an iPad app that provides access to recipes, food essays and the like to fans of the foodie rag. Now Gourmet is making a print comeback in the form of three newsstand-only editions, one of which is due to hit shelves next week.

The first edition is called Gourmet Quick Kitchen, a 120-plus-page compendium of recipes from older issues, as well as new content in the form of photos, kitchen tips and menus with wine pairings. Publisher Condé Nast hasn’t named the other two print editions, which are expected to come out in 2011.

To the optimists, there’s a ray of hope here, as Condé Nast has been known to suspend publications in order to rethink their brands (this happened with Details). To skeptics, this is just a cash grab from a well-known and once-reliable brand.

Will it be any good? Only time will tell.

• Gourmet Brand to Return to Print—As Special Newsstand-Only Issues [Folio]