Agreed, carbon steel is the way to go! Unfortunately, this revelation only came to me about 5 years ago when I found a chef's knife at a yard sale. I had previously thought my assortment of Wusthofs and Henckels were the cat's meow, but this crusty old blade blows them away. Now I only use the stainless if I'm feeling lazy or so rushed that I might not be able to wash & dry the carbon knife in a timely manner.

Coincidentally, the same yard sale produced my first Griswold skillet, which came as another revelation. Now that I've amassed a small collection of cast iron, I can see a huge difference between the quality of vintage and modern examples. I don't think I'd recommend using that gift certificate on modern cast iron, go C&V!