Panera Asks Fans To Create Their Next Sandwich

Now through Oct. 6, sandwich enthusiasts can submit their original sandwich recipes to Panera.

Submitted by Panera.  If you think the rest of the country is missing out on your famous Grilled Hamtastic Diablo sandwich, then this is your moment. Sandwich enthusiasts across the country now have the opportunity to put their sandwich-making skills to the test as Panera’s Sandwich Showdown contest kicks off today. The event gives amateur chefs, bread connoisseurs, and fans of culinary creativity throughout New England the chance to have their homemade concoction named the best sandwich in the U.S.  In addition to national bragging rights, the winner will take home $10,000 cash, $500 worth of Panera gift cards, free Panera Bread bagels for a year and will have their sandwich on the menu for a limited time at participating Panera Bread …

• Photos (1)

Panera Breaks Bread in Lexington Center (PHOTOS)

With sweets, sandwiches, soups, drinks, 100-plus seats and free Wi-Fi, the Nov. 28 opening of Panera Bread provides another option for shoppers, workers and folks passing through Lexington Center.

Bread was broken and the pastries flaky yesterday as Panera Bread opened its new location on Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington Center. The national bakery-café chain had its eyes on downtown Lexington for about three years prior to the Nov. 28 opening and locked onto the location about a year ago, with permitting and subsequent site work progressing over the spring and summer months. “The people and businesses in Lexington center, for us, we felt Panera would be a good fit for the community,” JV Area Director Gregg Godfrey told Patch during a tour Monday. With free Wi-Fi and more than 110 seats between the café and the patio, Panera adds another, larger option for shoppers, workers and folks swinging through Lexington Center looking for …

• Photos (6)

Patch Facts

Five Things You Need to Know Today: Nov. 28

Panera's opening, public meetings a history lesson and more today in Lexington.

1. Orders Up: After months of planning, permitting and overhauling, Panera Bread is opening today on Massachusetts Avenue. The bakery opens at 6 a.m. and a ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. this afternoon. 2. Today in Public Meetings: According to the town website, public meetings posted for today include: the Retirement Board at 8 a.m. at the Cary Memorial Library; the Fiske Site Council at 3:30 p.m. at the school; the Tourism Committee at 4 p.m. in the Town Office Building; the Estabrook School Access Ad Hoc Task Force at 6 p.m. at the Public Wroks Building and the Lexington High School site council at 7 p.m. at the school. 3. Slow Day, So Start Planning Ahead: Today may be on the slow side in terms of public meetings and …

• Photos (3)

More on Panera's Opening in Lexington Center

Panera Bread and the Lexington Chamber will mark the Nov. 28 opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and cooperative effort to support Children's Hospital.

The following is a ress release from Panera Bread: Panera is pleased to announce the opening of its newest bakery-cafe in Lexington on Monday, Nov. 28 at 1684 Mass Avenue. Panera Bread and the Lexington Chamber of Commerce will join together for a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the opening. The new bakery-cafe features a unique layout, featuring Panera’s three-season sunroom surrounded by floor to ceiling windows, a double-sided fireplace to warm up on the coldest of days, a spacious outdoor patio, and a free parking area behind the building. The Lexington Avenue Panera Bread bakery-cafe hours are as follows:  “Panera Bread is very fortunate to have the opportunity to open this new Lexington Center cafe. We worked diligently with …

• Photos (1)

What's the Best Sandwich in the Center?

On the eve of Panera Bread's arrival in Lexington, we need your help finding the best deli sandwich in town.

With Panera Bread set to begin construction any time now on its new location in Lexington Center and open at 1684 Mass Ave. this fall, we at Patch figured there's no better time to survey the current state of sandwich in town. But before we launch head-first into this sea of meats, cheese and bread, we want to ask you, the sandwich-lovers of Lexington: What's the greatest sandwich in the Center? Tell us your favorite 'wich in the comments, and we'll spend next week eating, digesting and scrutinizing the best sandwiches Lexington Center has to offer; and yes, declaring a winner. Some guidelines: -The sandwich must be served from a deli counter -The sandwich must be under $10 -The sandwich must be awesome That's it. Comment or tweet us @…

•  4 Comments
• Photos (1)

Order's Up! Panera Approved to Move Into Center

The national bakery-cafe chain will start construction soon and plans to open at 1684 Mass Ave. in the fall.

It's official: There's going to be a new sandwich shop in town. And a coffee shop. And a soup joint. And a place with free WiFi and hundreds of seats, too. National bakery-cafe chain Panera Bread is coming to Lexington, and quickly. Perhaps as soon as September 13, 2011, in fact, according to the target completion date on Panera's building permit, which was approved by Lexington building inspectors this week.  The breakfast, lunch and dinner chain will move in to part of the former home of clothes retailer Cohoes, and will feature 101 seats inside and another 14 seats on an outside patio on the corner.  The plan also calls for a bakery and kitchen in the basement, which suggests that Panera will be baking its bread on the premises.  Panera…

• Photos (4)

Get Bready: Panera May be Coming to the Center

The town building inspector is expected to rule within the week on Panera's request to open up in the old Cohoes Building.

National bakery-cafe chain Panera Bread is only a town building inspector approval away from moving in to part of a empty lot at 1690 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington Building Clerk Amy Casparius confirmed Thursday, July 28. The exterior patio on the left side of the new Panera location, which would take up around half of the former home of clothing retailer Cohoes, has already been approved by the Historic District Commission after a process that included putting a mock Panera sign up at the proposed location this spring. Panera officially applied for a permit on June 13, and all that stands in the way of construction beginning is for a town building inspector to sign off on the specifics of the building plans, which could happen this week, …

• Photos (3)

About Town

About Town: Center Scapes

Watching the world go by over lunch.

My brilliant, charming and incredibly successful daughter Rachel invited me to lunch today. We’re both creatures of habit, so we headed to Nourish, on Massachusetts Avenue. We parked in the back and surprisingly found a space – and quarters for the meter. As we turned the corner, we saw linen-covered tables outside. They were all empty because everyone was sitting inside. We figured it might be for the dinner crowd, but requested a patio table anyway, because it never hurts to ask. Hank’s column this morning about Paris didn’t help. I’d thought of nothing but Paris and Provence cafes since reading his piece. Thanks, Hank.  We were more than welcome to sit outside on the patio. It was a welcome change from the blast of air conditioning. (I’…

•  6 Comments
• Photos (2)

Hank Manz

5:54 pm on Thursday, July 21, 2011

They aren't tables, but those of us who ride buses and who wait for them in the Center are grateful for the sidewalk benches at Depot Square and now the brand new benches outside the Crafty Yankee so riders headed toward Alewife now have a comfortable place to wait.   more ›