What she said! I missed you KR! :D

I now live less than 10 minutes from a Panera. The alumnae chapter has their monthly lunches there.
That place is HELLA crowded during lunch! :eek:

This thread just made my dinner decision. Panera bread bowl here I come!

This made me lol literally.
We sprinted to lunch EVERY day. People would be lined up by the door trying to sneak down the hallway to lunch. We lucked out one year and had physics (right by the lunch lines!) one day and gym the next (which was next to the other line!)
Running to lunch was a truly memorable part of my high school experience.
No bread bowls unfortunately :(
But we did have some kick ass italian dunkers!

Breadbowls in the cafeteria? Damn.

I was happy to get my square pizza and chef salads.

No, the woman who made it was a good 35-40 years older than I. I do, however, know how to make good macaroni & cheese, sans box.

I had pretty good French onion soup at Panera on Saturday, but I didn't go for the breadbowl. I figured two in one week would be ridiculous.

Since I'm sick, my husband promised he'd pick one up for me on his way home from work :)

I know! They weren't even invented yet when I was a cafeteria customer. [/old]

Ahhh - I was so confused. So very, very confused.

I hope you use truffle oil!

ugh truffle oil bothers me. theoretically it is something I should really enjoy and it falls in line with my cooking styles and everything, but I HATE the smell of it.
I think because in my cooking lab one semester I spilled some on my sleeve and reeked of it all day. Just can't stand it.

Last night, son and I needed some supper. I asked him where he wanted to go and he quickly said "Panera." (He loves the cinnamon crunch bagel.) I relunctantly said okay -- reluctantly because, as I said earlier, a few of the bagels and pastries are the only things I particularly like at Panera, and I was hungrier than just a bagel.

Meanwhile, I thought of this thread. :D

We got there and I scanned the menu to see if there was something else that might be good and more filling, and my eye fell on the mac and cheese. Now, I remember very well what I said upthread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticCat (Post 2006539) I'm always surprised when people ooh and ahh over any kind of mac and cheese that's basically a cheese sauce poured onto pasta. I don't care how good the sause is, mac and cheese isn't worth getting excited about (or paying more for than a box of Kraft costs) unless it's made with a custard or a white sauce (and lots of cheese) and baked.

But I also remember that I had to recant a bit after having incredible mac and cheese with a blue cheese sauce. Besides, I thought, lots of folks at GC said it's so good, so why not give it a try?

I have learned two things:

1) I just don't think I'll ever get the appeal of Panera. I mean, there are some things there I'll eat, but nothing I get excited about, at least not so far. The mac and cheese was okay but nothing I'd particularly want again. It's more like I might settle for it next time son wants to go to Panera and I'm hungrier than just a bagel. I defintely wouldn't spend the $7+ for the large size -- not worth it to me at all.

2) I spend too much time on Greek Chat. (Well, I knew that, but this reinforced what I already knew. :o)

^^^ I agree DrPhil, the chili was good, but not nearly enough cornbread -.-

LOL. Serving Suggestion.