A relationship with Panera

When a restaurant goes out of business, for a panda, it feels like the zookeeper took off for good and also took custody of all the bamboo in the garden.  Of course, everybody eventually moves on and while they are doing so, they are also beginning a new adventure searching for a new fling.  For this panda, searching for another good sandwich place is that adventure.

This panda had been to Panera Bread several times before and though the establishment(s) are really nifty, it doesn't quite beat a traditional mom & pop sandwich shoppe.  Out of those several times I've eaten at Panera, 100% of those times I didn't enjoy my sandwich.  Some of the reasons include:

• the sauce was too sweet


• it was too saucy and overwhelming


• the bread was stale / very hard

It went to the point where I thought Perhaps I'm just ordering the wrong kind of sandwich.  But after several attempts and trying other sandwiches, they all seem to have that same saucy pseudo-gourmet taste that doesn't make a sandwich good [and definitely no where close to great].  To me, Panera Bread feels like going to a fancy-schmancy cafe and ordering a sandwich meal that costs $17, but tastes like it should've been worth no more than something you could get for $6.  Of course, there is no sandwich at Panera that costs $17 alone.  That was just an analogy.  Ooo big word!  Smart Panda.

So, Zookeeper suggested to try Panera again.  Was it a good idea?  Maybe so.

We ordered two sandwiches:

• Turkey Bacon Bravo


• Asiago Roast Beef

The turkey bacon bravo has gouda cheese in it.  The cheese itself tasted musty and very earthy with a slight hint of burnt cocoa.  The turkey itself tasted like any regular turkey that goes on sandwich.  The sandwich also had bacon in it (otherwise it wouldn't be a turkey bacon bravo!) but disappointingly, the bacon is not the applewood smoked bacon variety, but instead the type found in fast food such as Jack in the Box.  No crunchy crispy tasty bacon here!

From how it tastes, the bread used is a tomato herb sourdough and it is very soft and chewy.  The crust is just slightly crispy and has a rather sweet aftertaste to it.  The sauce used is lightly spread and has flavors of tomato and basil.  By my guess it's probably some form of tomato basil herb spread.  It's nice that the sauce in this sandwich wasn't overwhelming or too generous, but alas there was nothing about this sandwich to make me go oo la la.



The asiago roast beef on the other hand was very yummy in my tummy.  The asiago cheese foccacia bread was a bit hard to chew on but oddly provides it a hearty meal.  The roast beef is tender, nothing to really go wow over, but the sharp cheddar is pungent and gives the sandwich aroma and the beef more flavor.   We both really liked the horseradish spread used on the sandwich.  It was light and the taste was subtle, but overall it complement the cheddar well with this minty-sweet aftertaste.  Horseradish is commonly served with roast beef, but the light use of this spread on that amount of roast beef somehow makes the sandwich refreshing to munch on.  Odd isn't it.

With that said, I think I've finally found one sandwich I enjoy.  It still doesn't make up for those other times.  The only thing I actually like at Panera is the cheese pastry, but otherwise Panera Bread is like the date you look forward to seeing.  And that date has some positive and attractive bits here and there, but overall is rubbish when it comes to other things and tries too hard to please.