The Brecksville Detour

I visited Cleveland last week to celebrate my nephew's 6th birthday! Taking full advantage of this road trip, I made a special pit stop at the Brecksville Panera. Over the years, I have driven to Cleveland countless times...always passing signs for this sleepy town outside of Cleveland on 77, Brecksville. Noticing the Panera Bread logo on the blue exit signs, I decided to make detour toward the road less travelled.

My overall findings on the city of Brecksville: Quaint and cute. To be fair, it was just one exit, and that hardly defines a city...but it was nice. Most evertything off this exit was newer construction.

Like most newer developments, the signage sucks. This Panera is wrapped around a plaza that houses Heinen's (a Cleveland area grocery chain), a Japanese Steakhouse, a huge Verizon store, and several other retail outlets. We drove right past the entrance. As luck would have it, I was happy that we missed the entrance because we had to continue driving and eventually turn around at this Brecksville Nature Trail area. It looked like a pretty cool place to take your dog for a walk or to go for a run. Will I ever actually return to do either of these things? Unlikely...but let's be honest, I have done a lot weirder things before. It would be a nice little combination of events: A dog walk at a new trail + Panera Bread afterwards.

The Brecksville Nature Center

The REVIEW:
Date visited: Sunday, February 26
TIme of day: 5ish
Items ordered: Me: Unsweet tea Bob: coffee, black Deb: coffee, hazelnut

Panera to-go

As you can tell from the items ordered, this was a bit of a forced visit. No one was hungry, which is really odd in my family. But we could always use some caffeine. This Panera is sandwich in the middle of a strip mall. As we pulled up, I thought it was going to be a small store. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was much larger inside than it appeared to be on the outside.

Random NOTES:
- I have said it before, and I will say it again...My favorite Panera's have the purple walls. Why do I like it better? Seems more sloothing, I suppose.

- My mom loves the cinnamon cruch bagels. She wanted me to get her one for the morning...sadly, they were sold out. I have noticed this phenomenom several times. If you have a particular bagel fav at Panera, better get their early.
- Brecksville Nature Center...stop by for a stroll next time you are in town.
- Neat patio area. It wasn't warm enough to sit outside, obviously, but this Panera has a cool patio area. It overlooks the woods.

This picture doesn't do the patio justice. But here ya go..

Boomer came along for the ride...

Winter Garden Florida: hashtags, rum runners, and scientology

The annual winter Orlando trip...take 3! Once again, my friend Abby (who also lives in Ohio) and I met up with a good friend, Ashley (aka Schramm) who lives in Orlando. This is the 3rd January in a row that we have done so. It has become part of my routine...so I plan to continue this tradition. Sorry about your luck Schramm...and Tim.

My drive to the airport. Enough motivation to get out of Ohio!

The trip was originally designed as a way to break away from the winter, and relax in Florida. While each trip is a little different than the previous year, it always provides much entertainment, and we continue to tell the random stories from each trip year after year. This year's theme in which we made t-shirts for was: "No worries. Emergency We're Drunk" (Long explanation into the meaning behind the theme)

Beachside Friday afternoon.

This year we decided to venture away from Orlando and visit Clearwater Beach. Why Clearwater Beach you may ask? Well, it is a short drive from Orlando (about 1.5 hours)...and Clearwater had a race that particular weekend that we all decided we should do. (More details in the Random Notes regarding the race day debacle)

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you should know Abby and Ashley. They have been featured in many posts. So it was no surprise to them this trip needed to include a Panera visit. In fact, I don't even think I had to remind them that we needed to go to a Panera. Ashley already had a Panera in mind, located just a few minutes from her house in Winter Garden.

Abby and I arrived in Orlando on a Thursday evening. Stayed at Ashley's and then set out for Clearwater Friday morning. Full disclosure: These trips that we take typically revolve around our "emotional attachment to food...and to drinks". Naturally, we needed to stop somewhere for breakfast before we headed out on the journey to Clearwater.

Ashley's recommendation of the Winter Garden Panera hit the spot! We arrived at the Panera about 8:30ish. The sun was shining and birds were chirping. I thought it would be a good idea to get our picture taken in front of the building. I asked a happy couple walking into Panera to take our pictures. They were confused as to why we were getting our pics taken in front of Panera. Someone blurted out that I have a blog about Panera. I'm pretty sure they thought we were freaks.

THE REVIEW:
Date visited: Friday, January 20
Time of day: 8:30ish in the morning
Items ordered:
Me: Mediterranean Egg White on Whole Grain...unsweet tea
Ashley: Everything Bagel with "Ample" Cream Cheese...hazelnut coffee
Abby: Everything bagel, cream cheese (not sure on the ampleness), fruit smoothy

I got a bit excited about eating...forgot to take a photo pre-indulging. #fatgirl

This Panera is not a free-standing. This area of Winter Garden is a shoppers paradise...from what I could tell. Tons of chain stores and restaurants. After awkwardly getting our photos taken outside of Panera, we walked in and I was greeted with a picture/shrine of Al Covelli. Based out of Ohio, the Covelli's own TONS of Panera Breads...mainly in Ohio and Florida. Keeping things even more creepy and awkward...I got my picture taken in front of the plaque.

The definition of creepy. #weirdpaneraobsession

Overall the crowd was pretty light, with a mixed bag of people. You saw all types there from people on business meetings to retirees, to people like us on vacation.
The Mediterranean egg white sandwich was my first experience with that sandwich. I was happy with my choice. It was filling, yet not too filling. The fact that it said "egg white" also makes you feel healthy.

Standard patio picture...

RANDOM notes:

• I whipped out my iPhone during this visit to share some @Paneraaddict tweets. This sparked a weekend full of "hashtag" references. It has become quite addicting to integrate the word "hashtag" in front of a descriptive phrase.
• Speaking of "#"...Abby received a "random" text during this trip. Some guy sends her a text provoking "sexts". In the spirit of vacation, and boredom on our drive to Clearwater, we decide to provoke this guy a bit more. Well, to make a long story short...we had to cut this guy off when it got graphic and Abby broke the news to him that he had the wrong number. This guy thought he was texting his apparent girlfriend named "Lisa". This promted us to ponder what kind of girl is this "Lisa"....It was our mantra all weekend to jokily refer to any question with #whatwouldlisado.
• "Ample" Cream Cheese....as I am writing this blog this evening, I had to text Abby and Ashley to confirm what they ordered at Panera. Ashley confirmed that she ordered "ample" cream cheese. I believe she is commenting on the fact that Panera provides a normal portion size of cream cheese...whereas, anywhere else you go they skimp you on the cream cheese.
• The race. There was some miscommunication on whether or not we were going to run the race. The memo that Ashley and I got, was to not run. Abby received a different memo and signed up, not knowing that neither Ashley or I signed up. It wasn't until we arrived in Clearwater, that Abby stated "I am not looking forward to this race!" Clearly Abby didn't get the memo. Regardless, I decided to run in her place. They had a 5-mile race and a half marathon...I chose the 5-miler. It was a gorgeous course the took you over the Clearwater Beach bridge and through the downtown. My time? 50 minutes roughly.
• Ashley is newly married to Tim. Every January we invade their house. I think he enjoyed the fact that we decided to venture away from Orlando this year. At least I would have been, if I was in his shoes. You can read about their wedding and my other Orlando visit here.
• Scientolists. Clearwater is home to a big Scientologists community. Like huge. Not judging any religion...but that religion is definitely not my cup of tea. If you are bored at work this week, google "Clearwater and Scientology".
• IHOP....let's sum up our Friday of eating/drinking. Panera. Beachside grill. Dinner at a tiki hut bar poolside. Extra large rum runners. Mini bar crawl down the strip...and several beers later. We end up at the hotel, which happens to have an IHOP attached. #fatandproud.

Thought this was brilliant after several drinks.

Have a nice weekend...and remember #WWLD!

Let the snowbirding begin...1st Florida review of 2012

It's winter in Ohio. Though it may not feel like winter in Ohio, it has been my tradition these last few years to become a wanna be snowbird. Every fall that we get our first frost, I frantically try to plan a few winter getaways. You gotta have something to look forward too, right?

The white sandy beach of Pensacola...

My first Florida getaway of 2012 was to the white sandy beaches of the Gulf Coast. During my visit I came across many worthy Panera's that I could review, but I eventually came across the Panera in Fort Walton Beach. It was here that I enjoyed a nice lunch.

Free-standing, with a drive-thru. Very nice.

Date of visit: Saturday, January 14
Time of day: 1 ish
Those in attendance/items ordered:
Me: Pick 2...Chicken salad sandwich on whole grain, greek salad no olives, french baguette. Unsweet tea.
Bob: Same as me. More details in the Random Notes section.
Deb: Sierra Turkey Pick 2, chili, and a french baguette. Bottle of water to drink.

Not sure on when this was built...but it is a Free-Stander and it has a drive-thru. Those two facts lead me to believe that it was built in the last few years. The 1 pm lunch is about 2 hours past my normal lunch feeding time, so needless to say, I was hungry. I was surprised to see such a large bustling crowd at 1 in the afternoon...who knew!

I enjoyed the overall atmosphere/vibe of this Panera. It was busy, yet the layout didn't make it seem super crowded. The had a very nice patio area. We chose to sit inside, as it was just a bit too chilly to sit outside for the meal.

RANDOM notes.

• Is it just me, or did Panera just recently start integrating some impulse register buys...aka Point of Sale items? I noticed they were selling pre-packaged brownies at this Panera. Clever. Ingenius. I like it. 

Big fat chocolate...brownies. Wrapped and ready to go.

• My dad isn't one to read menus. I ordered my meal and he told the cashier he would like the same. That happens a lot. 
• My mom ordered a bottle of water. I don't understand the logic behind that decision. The water at Panera is pretty good. The only downfall is that you have to use a child size sippy cup if you want a glass of water versus a fountain drink or tea....in which case you are announcing to the world that you are too cheap to buy a drink. Really, I think Panera should consider a special big kid cup for water. 

Did a google image search to illustrate the water. Completely stole this photo from someones blog

. 

• Random fact: Tourism in 2011 was the highest ever...in the Gulf Coast region. Up over 50% in most areas! Much of this is attributed to BP throwing tons of money into advertising.

Next up: Winter Park, Florida Panera. Spoiler alert: It's a Covelli.

New Years Eve Panera visit...Nashville Syle

I had the opportunity to ring in 2012 in Nashville, TN! If you haven't ever been...you outta put this on your must-do list! Even if you are not a country music buff, I still think you will have a good time in this city. The bars that align Broadway (the main strip) feature live music at each and every bar! It is very difficult to not have a good time.

Standard exterior shot.

Upon arriving in Nashville, we did the obligatory visit to Grand Ole Opry. (More thoughts on that visit in Random Notes) After that visit we decided to drive around the strip to map out our night. As fate would have it, during the exploratory drive, we ran right into a Panera drive-thru! I was driving, so we pulled into the Panera and promptly ordered some drinks through the drive-thru.

THE REVIEW:
Date of visit: 12.31.11
Time of Day: 3ish
Those in attendance: Myself, 2 cousins (Korri & Cassie), Andrea

Nice drive-thru.

I don't really remember what everyone ordered. We all ordered a drink. I had the standard unsweet ice tea. I am pretty sure there was a water, and perhaps a coffee purchased. My details on this blog are going down hill. It was a forced Panera visit, so not everyone was sold on getting something.

Here are some RANDOM NOTES:

• The Panera drive-thru associate was very friendly. Let's face it, she could have been super annoyed with our group of girls. It was New Years Eve. We were loud. And probably annoying. But she was rather helpful. In fact we needed directions to a store that sold beer and she gave us pretty precise directions. So thumbs up to the Panera associates, in Nashville!
• One side of the main drag in Nashville features bars were smoking is permitted. If you don't like the smoke...simply cross the street. On that side of the street, smoking is not permitted. Random, but oddly fair.
• Every bar has live music, naturally. One neat twist with the musicians...they typically walk around with a tip jar after they have performed. I haven't seen that anywhere. 

 

 

 

They have a guitar that drops instead of a ball.

The Nashville crew.

363 days later...my final Cbus review: Grove City

Standard exterior shot.

It took me nearly 365 days, but I accomplished my goal. I have visited and reviewed every single Panera Bread in the Columbus area...all 22 of 'em! In addition I have even visited/reviewed 10 other outer market Panera Bread's throughout Ohio and the nation.

I finished this goal on Friday morning, where I reviewed the newly built Grove City Panera.

THE REVIEW:
Date visited: Friday, December 16
Time of Day: 11am ish
Items ordered: Med veg, chips, and unsweet tea

Old faithful. The med veg. Delightful.

It's no secret, I went out of my way to visit Grove City. I had an appointment in Columbus on Friday, and decided to head to Grove City to review the new Panera. My appointment was in the Easton area...and then I drove to Grove Tucky...not convenient, but well worth the effort.

Being unfamiliar with Grove City, I had to pull up directions to this Panera on my iPhone. Suprisingly, I could not spot this Panera immediately. I made the assumption that since this was brand new, it would be a free-standing Panera with a drive-thru. I was shocked to see that it was neither free-standing nor did it have a drive-thru. Rather, it was stuck in the middle of a small strip center. That's pretty unusual for the a new Panera.

I pulled up to the restaurant and had many pre-conceived notions. I assumed it was going to be your average run of the mill boring Panera. In fact, I kind of assumed it would be the same look and feel as the new Hilliard store. I was wrong.

Standard interior shot.

If you are ever in the Grove City area, visit this Panera. The decor is warm and inviting, yet the actual restaurant is fairly large. Some of the newer Panera's like the Hilliard location, are just not as cozy. It's difficult to explain, probably just a personal preference. I did notice that the GC Panera had a purple color palate. Apparently that color is settling to me.

Note the purple walls.

Random NOTES:

• Saluting the Troops: Panera Bread is giving away Pick 2's to current military personnel and vets on 12/21 and 12/22! Spread the word!

• Staying Hungry. Staying Foolish...I impulse bought a MacBook after my Panera trip. I actually have been contemplating this move for 2 years now. I saw there was a Best Buy near the Panera and pulled the trigger. Still blogging on my PC, however.
• Waiting area. Have you ever been standing around waiting for your food at Panera to be called up. There really is no good place to mill around. This was brilliantly addressed at this GC location. They have a bench near the waiting area for that purpose. Genius!

Waitin' bench.

• I am not sure how new this location is, but they were very eager to help. That's usually a sign that the place is brand new. They had one girl going around essentially busing the tables. It was nice, yet very unexpected.
• Covelli is the franchisee of the Columbus Panera's. They also own O'Charleys. There is an O'Charleys about a block away from this Panera. Does anyone like O'Charley's? I can't say I have ever said, "Hey, lets go to O'Charley's." I have been to a few in my day, but the decision to go there is typically based on convenience and/or lack of other options.

So we meet again...The Lakewood Panera review.

There she sits.

My Panera experiences have come full circle now. I had the opportunity to re-visit the Lakewood Panera on Saturday. This is THE Panera that is responsible for my weird obsession slash blogging about Panera. As I discussed in my original post, the Lakewood Panera is so unique. To date, I have reviewed nearly 40 Panera Bread stores, and this one is by far the cat's ass!

I'm not sure what was housed at this Panera before it was a Panera, the cashier told me it has been a number of things over the years. The last thing she remembers it as was a Hallmark.

Each year, my mom and I visit my sister in Cleveland for a Christmas shopping weekend. Last year, I signed up to run the Lakewood Reindeer Run. Because of logistics, my mom had to tag along to this first race, and decided to have a coffee and read a book at Panera, while I ran. It is because of this race, that I found this Lakewood Panera. I decided to sign up for the race again this year. My mom was a trooper again this year, and camped out at the Panera while I ran.

The REVIEW:
Date visited: Saturday, December 3
Time of Day: 9:30ish
Those in attendance: My mom and me.
Items ordered: Mom: Hazelnut coffee, and cinnamon crisp bagel. Me: Whole grain bagel and an iced tea to go.

The race started at 9. So we arrived at the Panera right around 8:30. They have a parking garage at this Panera (which I remembered from last year) so we parked there. My mom found a nice seat in the front of the building, next to the windows overlooking the street. I grabbed a glass of water and did a warm up jog down to the race start.

Once the race was finished, I jogged back to the Panera.  We were in a bit of a hurry because we wanted to see my nephew's flag football game, which started at 10. Being true to my loyal readers, I felt the need to order something. So I got an iced tea and a whole grain bagel to go.

There I am with my whole-grain bagel and unsweet tea. Pretty standard, really.

Why do I like this Panera so much? Let me bullet point my reasons:

• The building. It is an old building, converted into a Panera. It is just so unique. 
• The location. If it wasn't for the unfortunate climate, I would consider moving to Cleveland, and Lakewood might be on the top of the list. It is a neat little town. I don't know if it would technically be called downtown, but this location feels like "downtown" Lakewood. There are other office buildings and little shops in the surrounding area. The houses are all very nice. Older, but nice. 
• The layout. They worked with the space that had to work with. There are windows that go from ceiling to floor all around the perimeter of this building. Naturally, that's where they chose to place all of the seating. Great view. 
• The signage. The exterior signage conforms to the rest of the tenants of the building. It is not the standard corporate image. I don't know why, but I like it. 

View from the waiting area. 

Cashier station.

View from the table.

Random NOTES:

• Last year, I was annoyed with the parking situation. We had to find street parking, which was a real pain. It wasn't until we left Panera last year, that we discovered the "FREE PARKING GARAGE" sign for Panera customers. I remembered this year, and capitalized on the garage parking. 

• Santa Claus. As I walked up to the Panera entrance, I noticed that they had Santa on their front porch for the day. Very nice touch, Panera!

I blocked the kids face at the suggestion from my sister. Good call, since I don't know him.

• My race results. Last year I finished #618 with a time of 31:34. This year I improved my time to 27:17, with only 548 others finishing before me! 
• I pre-registered for the race and picked up my packet the day before. However, once I arrived at the Panera, I realized I had forgotten my packet with my number and tracker thing that tells your time. Thankfully, the kind people at Hermes Road Racing gave me a new number and tracker. 

I still have another Columbus Panera to review (Grove City), and I am sure there will be new one's built as the year goes on. I plan to visit Grove City very soon. 

"Italian Combos" & Drive-Thrus at the Hilliard Panera

My final Columbus review, Hilliard...or so I thought! I was pretty pumped on my drive to Hilliard on Sunday afternoon. Throughout this past year, I have diligently crossed off the Panera Bread locations on my list. To my knowledge, Blacklick was the last on my list from the original Cbus area Paneras. I knew there were 2 new Paneras opened in the Cbus area this past year (Lane Ave & Hilliard)...but I had no idea that a secret 3rd location had opened! Coming soon: Grove City Panera review!

The official list used to mark of
my Panera visits...

Focusing on the task at hand, however...here's my Hilliard Panera experience:

The Review:
Date visited: Sunday, November 27
Time of day: 5ish
Items ordered: You pick 2 (half italian combo sandwich on whole grain + greek salad no olives), a whole grain baguette, and an unsweet tea.

That's a nice looking "Italian Combo"...

This Panera is located off of Hilliard-Rome Road, very close to the I-70 exit. Hilliard-Rome Road is super busy. Tons of retail shopping, restaurants, etc. I can see why Panera strategically placed this Panera close to the I-70 on-ramps, next to a Meijer and across the street from a Wal-Mart.
It's a new Panera...it's not a free-stander, but it has a drive-thru! My fav! This location shares a building with Five-Guys, and something else...can't recall. Maybe an ATT store?

I arrived with my laptop on a rainy Sunday afternoon. As always, I was happy to see a drive-thru, and hope that drive-thru's become more of a rule rather than the exception.
The LAYOUT: Very unique. A Dispatch article talks about how it is a prototype for future Panera's to mimic. Walking in the front entrance, there is open seating to your immediate left and more of a closed-off section to your right, featuring the main dining area. Straight ahead...the cashier.

Whatcha see when you walk in...
notice the fancy LED menu boards.

I found a nice booth, with an outlet, close to the bathroom.
RANDOM notes:

• The Italian Combo sandwich. RANDOM! I know. A completely new item ordered, only because I wanted to try this out for my readers. It just doesn't seem fair for me to keep ordering the SAME thing. 3 words sum up this sandwich: Meaty, filling, salty. I opted to not get it on the ciabatta bread. I think Ciabatta bread is too hard. Would I order it again? Doubtful. Should you? Only if you are looking for something meaty, filling, and salty. Sounds like Snooki's taste in men. Actually, an "Italian Combo" sounds like a term that the Jersey Shore crew would embrace for a number of innuendos.

Snooki's "Italian Combo"

• More bread DRAMA. At the Blacklick location, I ordered a Med Veg, which comes on tomato basil. Well, they put it on whole-grain. Fair enough. I got over it. Less than a week later, at this visit, they put my "Italian Combo" on Ciabatta, despite the fact that I ordered it on whole-grain. I don't like to be a diva, but I had them change the order this time.
• Grove City. Apparently I have to drive down there for a review. I had no idea Panera opened down there. I will be sure to fit this in before year's end.
• Outlets are key at a Panera. There are numerous Panera laptop lurker's at any given Panera. We need our outlets. I was fooled at this location. The older layouts have the outlets underneath the tables on the wall. Apparently, the newly designed stores have them cleverly placed on the outside of the bench seat. The outlet covers also match the paint, so they blend in well. Indeed, clever. What will you think of next, Panera?
• Menu boards. This one has the new electronic message boards. Very attractive!
• I earned $2 off the PICK 2...just for having the MY PANERA card!
• Hilliard-Rome vs. Rome-Hilliard: How do you say it or spell it? Which comes first Hilliard or Rome?

View from my table...