Panera Bread...delicious
Written: Nov 08 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: delicious bread, soup
Cons: not all breads are available each day
The Bottom Line: recommended, wonderful food, clean store, pleasant staff
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| mjhollingshead's Full Review: Panera Bread |
Tulsa, Oklahoma Woodland Hills Mall Panera Bread is an upscale soup/sandwich/bakery goods shop placed near one of the major mall entrances and well away from the food court. Décor is up-to-date, with subtle ‘earth colors’ and tiled floors lending a Mediterranean feel to the site. I was not at all certain I was going to like the shop – St Louis Bread Shop was the original tenant and I was not positive this upstart usurper could measure up. It does. The shop is always tidy, clean and spotless, spills are swept/wiped up immediately. There is ample seating space with booths along the outer wall and small tables and chairs in the ‘entrance’ area.
The shop doesn’t provide menus per se. Rather, there are wooden posters on the wall listing the different menu items. A platter with bread pieces and small bowls of soup to taste are available on the counter.
Featuring a variety of bakery goodies housed in a glass case for viewing/choosing even the most discriminating diner can find something to entice. Flaky pastries and a wide variety of bagels are attractively displayed. All products are freshly baked in house, the aroma alone is tempting. Racks of baskets filled with various breads ready for purchase do not stay on the shelf long enough to go stale. Sandwich breads are offered in rye, nine-grain, honey wheat, French, hearty grain, pumpernickel, sourdough, focaccia. Specialty breads include Three-Seed Sourdough, Soup Bowls, Sun Dried Tomato, Baguettes, Sourdough Rolls, Nine Grain, Olive Sourdough, Cinnamon Raisin, Tomato Basil, Swirl Rye, Pesto, in loaves and rounds as well as delicious Asiago Cheese, and spicy Fiesta. Cream cheese spreads crafted in house are offered along with Croissants, Danish and specialty pastries in various spice or jam flavors. Not all the varieties are available every day.
Available during the hours of business is the Panera Coffee Bar where favorite hot or cold coffees including espresso, cappuccinos, lattes, and ‘flavors of the day’ are offered. Coffee drinks are available decaffeinated or not, with skim milk or over ice if you like or ‘straight up’. A nice variety of non coffee beverages include the usual fountain drinks, teas, fruit juice, lemonade, Dr Brown’s Sodas, milk, hot chocolate and bottled waters.
Salads priced from just under $4.00 to nearly $6.00 run the gamut of simple lettuce and little else to specialty dishes served with your choice of a baked sourdough or French roll. The Fandango Salad with Mixed greens and romaine lettuce, mandarin oranges, Gorgonzola cheese, and raspberry dressing is delicious… the husband gags at the sight. I have not yet tried the Chicken Oriental Salad with chow mein noodles, bok choy, Napa cabbage, and Oriental sesame vinaigrette, but always threaten to try it ‘next time’. Chicken can be added for an additional $1.20.
Soups served in a sourdough bread bowl are a house specialty hold over from the old St Louis Bread Company days. The bread bowl offering cost of $4.00+ is well worth the price. The husband and I have tried both the clam chowder and the French onion and have found them superb. Soup served in a regular non-edible bowl with a sourdough roll on the side is available. A regular bowl of soup is $3.00. The broccoli cheese looks delicious, perhaps one day I will give it a try when my craving for French Onion is stated.
Panini Sandwiches are pressed on a hot grill, and they smell and look scrumptious! The husband and I have not tried any of the offerings as yet. However the husband vows the Cuban Pork and Ham with sliced ham and smoked pork tenderloin, dill pickles, chipotle mayo, thick sliced Swiss and spicy mustard grilled on Panera’s Asiago Cheese Focaccia bread calls to him with each visit. Running to just under $6.00 hot/grilled sandwiches are served with chips.
Café and Signature Sandwiches costing from $3.00 - $6.00 and served with ‘Kruncher’ chips and pickle are done up with the usual lettuce, tomato, sliced onion, mayo, spicy mustard, sprouts if you choose and salt and pepper unless otherwise requested. Café and signature sandwiches include: Veggie Sandwich, a delicious chicken salad, The husband’s sandwich choice is always the tuna salad. Other offerings include peanut butter and jelly, Italian Combo Sandwich and Tuscan Chicken, as well as Party Sandwiches. The party sandwich serving six to eight will cost less than $30.00. The Bacon Turkey Bravo, just under $6.00, is served on Panera Bread’s signature bread: tomato basil bread, toasted if you like. It is cut down the center diagonally. The sandwich comes with smoked gouda, is served in a basket with a bag of potato chips and you will remove the onion slice yourself if you don’t care for onion.
In this day and age of ‘me first and only’ I find the poignant point of view presented by Panera Bread refreshing. Operation Dough-Nation is Panera Bread’s way to give back to the community through various programs.
1. Cash donation receptacles are placed near the cash register: customer donations made to the café are matched and contributed to local hunger relief and/or other local charity organizations.
2. At the end of the day unsold bread is donated to local hunger relief agencies.
3. Dough For Funds, is a fund-raising program available to local groups. Special coupons for Panera Bread products are sold, the group selling keeps half the proceeds.
4. Panera Bread regularly donates products and gift certificates to benefit a wide range of charitable organizations and causes.
My Experience:
You will choose breads or pastries from the glass cases or the racks behind them. Breads are placed in a sturdy bag for carrying home. If you choose to sample the soups or other offering you will stand in line at a bar to order and then move down the bar past the server who will put your meal together as you watch. When you reach the end of the bar your meal is waiting for you. Or you can place your order, take coffee to your table and your tray will be carried to your table within minutes. Most times I choose the French Onion soup in the sourdough bread bowl. At about a cup and a half of soup The Husband knows he will have Onion Soup in addition to his own favorite: the Clam Chowder. Provel cheese melted over the top and drizzled down the sides of the bowl topped with a crusty/crunchy toast round completes the Onion Bowl. The sourdough bowl crust is always VERY crusty and delicious. The soup soaking into the bread only adds to the treat.
We rarely leave the shop without a bag laden with loaves of bread, pastries and bagels with strawberry cream cheese in a small pot.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mjhollingshead
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Member: molly
Location: United States
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Educator, author, reviewer, QMRP, parent
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