They opened a Panera Bread bakery in the town of Hanford, California last year. Wait. I forget. Is Hanford an actual city? 😉
Hanford is in central California. (Notice I didn’t capitalize central. The inhabitants of central CA are not snobby like Northern or Southern Californians who think our state should be divided like the Dakotas or the Carolinas – central gets left out of this every time. I wonder if they even know it goes on?
Anyway, back to Hanford.
If you’re traveling north on Interstate 5, and you blink as you’re approaching Fresno, you’ve probably missed it.
But it is a place near and dear to us because our friends, Gene and Pam live there and we get a daily report via cell phone video as to what’s going on in their world. And even though we are 245 miles apart, thanks to technology, we still share life.
I’ve written before about them and about Gene’s almost daily trek to Panera Bread. And about how the train that goes through the very center of their town (city? hamlet?) thwarts him every time. He says he doesn’t care as much now that they have their new car with XM Radio, but we were not convinced. Is Panera really that great of a place? That it would be worth enduring the endless train?
They just opened a Panera Bread bakery in our world – a mere 3.29 miles from our home.
So, I didn’t cook on Sunday. We went to Panera instead.
It took us forever to order, not because they were slow, but because we had to study and ask about everything on the menu. And we all agreed to order different things so we could taste as much as possible. 
The consensus was that the sourdough bread bowls were the best and the boys drank all their soup and ate most of their bowls. Eric managed to find something called Fufu Berry Soda, which made him totally happy, but would never appeal to me in a million years because of the name and because it reminded me of Kool-Aid.
And everyone knows real Fufú is made with ripe plantains and garlic, but that’s a food post for another day. =D
Okay, so, we LOVED it.
We’re thinking that maybe Panera will become a regular thing for the Darbys.
Good food. No train. Even without XM Radio, it’s a win-win. =D
Ahhhh Panera, great sandwiches, great pizza, great coffee and even better….Free Wi-Fi connection!!!!!!!!
Happy May Day! I loved the post cuz it was about US! Just to let you know….us CENTRAL Californians are very much aware of the controversy. We think we should be our own nation. We grow most of the food for the world, produce most of the dairy products and give southern California their water!Thanks for the post! We love Panera. I love the Chicken Tomesto Sandwich, Three Cheese Fontina, Smoked Turkey Breast. My son loves the Baked Potato soup in a bread bowl. We all, especially John, loves the Three Cheese Bread, but you have to go early to get it as it sells out every time!
Now I know gift card to get you! Have a great day! And….what a lightening fast post! 😉