Monday, October 1, 2007

Lunch at Panera

Honestly, I don't know why I go to Panera for lunch. I much prefer their breakfast items to their soups and sandwiches. My favorite is the Chocolate Hazelnut Bagel with Hazelnut Cream Cheese, but that might have been a special since it's not currently on the website. Today I was in the mood for a panino, so I ordered this:

"Turkey Artichoke:
Smoked turkey, spinach artichoke spread, Asiago-Parmesan cheese,
tomatoes & caramelized onions, grilled hot on our Basil Pesto Focaccia."



The best thing that Panera has going is freshly baked bread which I expect from a seven dollar sandwich. It was perfectly grilled on the panini press, and the sandwich was satisfyingly moist due to the spinach artichoke spread. The term "caramelized onions" is used VERY loosely here, and the tomatoes tasted like....well, tomatoes in October.  And my ice water was downright funky.  All in all, it was a seven dollar lunch that left me feeling about half full. Not a great bargain in my book. Also, they don't offer fair trade coffee or tea which is a downer.

cheers

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i generally like panera, but bagels make me fat...also i am poor. thus, i dont eat there much.

Keith Shank said...

I agree with bagels making me fat - I read that they are the equivalent of five pieces of white bread.

Also, I rarely eat at Panera.

Anonymous said...

I do like that Panera's salads are a little more unique than most "fast food" places, and that they incorporate a lot of leafy greans and not just iceburg lettuce. Yuck... Iceburg lettuce is the most worthless food on the planet. I feel ripped off when I order a salad, and it's full of iceburg.

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