Why are breadbowls so amazing?

[nittanygirl]

My thoughts on the mac n cheese is that there should be different names for the creamy kind and the baked kind. They just don't even compare to each other.

Example: One time, when I was little, we had a babysitter who was a senior in HS going into culinary school the next year. She made us velveeta shells for dinner and I remember saying to her that I had no idea how she was going to be a chef if she couldnt even make good mac n cheese.

I was raised on good baked mac n cheese from scratch. It is my favorite. I do enjoy the panera mac & cheese though as well as Wegman's mac n cheese. They are both delicious.

[lovespink88]

My thoughts on bread bowls:

1) They remind me of high school. Our cafeteria food was delicious, so naturally the bread bowls were great as well. Anyways, everyone went CRAZY on bread bowl day. Seriously. People would be sprint to the cafeteria on bread bowl day. I remembered one day they were short on bread bowls so they had to ration them out between the lunch periods. Everyone was panicked! Girls would cut in line, get in fights, etc. It got ugly. Moral of the story: Don't ever stand between a hungry, PMSing, teenage Catholic school girl and her bread bowl.

2) My coworkers introduced me to the BEST soup place in the city (agzg, other Chicagoans and any visitors, I highly recommend you check them out). It's called Soupbox, (there's a few locations I think). Anyways, the soup is phenomenal! I haven't had a bread bowl yet, as they give bread on the size, but I'm gonna cave one day...soon.

3) Most everyone has judged me for saying this but the Domino's Pasta Bread Bowls look amazing. Yes, it's probably extremely high in calories...but I think they look delicious. Anyone ever have one?

[nittanygirl]

Originally Posted by lovespink88

1) They remind me of high school. Our cafeteria food was delicious, so naturally the bread bowls were great as well. Anyways, everyone went CRAZY on bread bowl day. Seriously. People would be sprint to the cafeteria on bread bowl day. I remembered one day they were short on bread bowls so they had to ration them out between the lunch periods. Everyone was panicked! Girls would cut in line, get in fights, etc. It got ugly. Moral of the story: Don't ever stand between a hungry, PMSing, teenage Catholic school girl and her bread bowl.

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!

[UofISigKap]

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

[knight_shadow]

Breadbowls in the cafeteria? Damn.

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

[LucyKKG]

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.

[Pirouette]

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

[nittanygirl]

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.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Kappamd

The mac and cheese [at Panera] is EXCELLENT.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

YESSSSSS. Panera mac and cheese > life.

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.

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:

Originally Posted by MysticCat

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. )

[Drolefille]

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

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I feel teased despite how all of the advertisements show just a bowl of chili with cubes of cornbread in it. LOL. I thought they were showing us how you can break up your BIG BLOCK OF CORNBREAD and put some chunks in the chili.

LOL. Serving Suggestion.