Syracuse Sandwich: Panera Bread's Cuban Chicken Panini

Who: Panera Bread What: Cuban Chicken Panini
Where: Route 11, Cicero Phone: 458-9436 Website: Panera Bread
Parking: Shared lots Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No

     Oh Panera how I love thee, let me count the ways. It’s starting to look that way isn’t it? Yes this is the 5^th review I am doing of Panera Bread but they are one of the only “sandwich” places around that isn’t a sit down restaurant. Plus Christine will go there whenever so that is a huge plus. We stopped there after Christine’s interview at J-D and it was pretty dead inside but that was good for us. We ordered quickly and received our food almost as fast. Christine went with her trusty asiago roast beef sandwich with macaroni and cheese while I decided to try something new. I ordered the Cuban Chicken Panini and the BBQ chopped chicken salad, the salad I got as a conservative pick in case the Panini didn’t work out. I highly recommend the salad if you aren’t in the mood for soup or a full sandwich. The Panini is made up of chicken slices, ham, Swiss, sweet & spicy pickle chips, chipotle mayo, and sun-dried tomato ale mustard on Focaccia bread. I’m a huge fan of Cuban sandwiches and while this wasn’t a traditional Cuban I thought it would be worth a try.

     I thought just by the look of the sandwich that it was going to shine but the light never really turned on. I expected the bread to be crispier and toasted but it was dry and soft with a few grill lines. The chicken was the same chicken used in my salad but I enjoy because it is seasoned with a spice blend that includes a lot of pepper. The ham is the same used in their ham and Swiss sandwich which I reviewed and I recall liking. While the Swiss cheese didn’t pack a ton of flavor, it did give the sandwich a creamy, gooey texture. The mayo and mustard were pretty much none existent but I did get a taste of them when I pulled some of the pickles out. The pickles were a bit overwhelming and had a strange taste that was neither good nor bad. It took me about 4 to 5 bites to get a sense of how this sandwich was going to turn out but even after I had finished it I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. The bread at Panera is always going to be the star but for once I was disappointed in it. The sandwich wasn’t bad because it tasted fine but it wasn’t great because there wasn’t much flavor.

Rating: Satisfying - Too many expectations, none of which were met.