Aiee! It's here!

[chipotle]

There's a few chain restaurants I've missed since I moved out here. A few "little" ones, ones that aren't going to make you go wow but are just good hangout joints -- Steak-n-Shake, Waffle House (God help me). And, Panera Bread Cafe. In the Bay Area, Le Boulanger wants to be a Panera, but they don't quite cut it: their sandwiches and soups are good enough, but their pastries pale in comparison and their atmosphere is more like a fast food restaurant than a cafe. And to add lameness, they all close at 7:00 pm at the latest.

Today, I drove south to Gilroy and found the first Panera Bread in Northern California, which has only been open since Thursday. Those who know Gilroy will probably ask, "Gilroy? Why Gilroy?"; the answer is, apparently, because it's growing real fast, and the Panera is in one of two retail centers that weren't there a year ago, stocked with upscale suburban tenants.

And, like most Panera Bread Cafes now, it has free wi-fi. That's new in the last two years, but they've always been laptop friendly, with plenty of tables that have electrical outlets.

I ended up staying there close to seven hours, having lunch and then later an afternoon pastry with coffee. (Their coffee is, to be truthful, so-so at best, but it's drinkable and there are free refills.)

For better or worse, Gilroy is too far to travel to hang out too often, although it's probably a bit closer--and certainly faster to get to--than Soquel, where my favorite independent coffee shop is.

But, they're opening a Panera in Cupertino soon, I'm told, and there are plans for 15 around the SF Bay Area.

Comments

[mordrul.livejournal.com]

And now this reminds me of the fact that we just got ourselves a Krispy Kreme in GR a few years ago, and I was one of those who showed up during the brouhaha for my free donut. And to be honest I have no idea what the fuss is about. They're good, but not fantabulous. About two will kill my desire to have any more sugar for the rest of the day. Truth be told, I'll take Dunkin Donuts any day. Thankfully there's one just two blocks away from the Krispy Kreme, along with a Baskin Robbins.

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

For a while the closest Krispy Kreme was in Detroit, and a friend of mine and I up and decided to drive out there one day from Kalamazoo, just to get donuts. We did things like that.