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

[cetasdolphin.livejournal.com]

I don't know of most of these places as well, it must be a West Coast thing. All I know is that my area in the South finally seems to have gotten a Starbucks near to me, and the local Dunkin Donuts seems to have been renovated to be a Baskin Robbins as well (which is nice seeing the old store was getting a rather dirty appearance). As for Dunkin Donuts it seems many are regional based as the one down here serves a particular type of donut my mother loves (White Cream filled), yet when we went up to visit my uncle in the Northeast, we had to visit up to at least 20 or more stores and go though two states just to find one store that sold that particular variety of donut.