part of what has become panera bread started as st. louis bread company in, of all places, st. louis (weird, right?).  i first fell in love with bread co (as the locals call it... and i still do, out of habit, even tho the name has changed) when i worked at chesterfield mall because it was the only place that took checks and i never carry cash (this was pre-debit cards).  when i started going there, they actually made coffee like a real coffee shop & they had an amazing veggie sandwich that could be ordered with avocado for a little extra.  since becoming part of panera bread, some of the local, hometown goodness is gone.  it seems less fresh, groovy cafe and more homogenized, pedestrian factory pretending to be a cafe.  sure, the food is good, they come up with a few unusual twists and the bread is incredible and fresh but the atmosphere is different.  it doesn't feel like that little place down the street where you can get a healthy meal & chill out anymore.  they don't even really make the coffees.  half of them are made from mixes.

the feeling i loved about the old bread co was found again the other day at a place called camille's (which, with about 110 current locations, is another chain that i'd never heard of before).  the food is hearty & healthy.  the coffee is actually made right there in front of you.  they have sandwiches with sprouts on them!  the decor is sunny, bright (unlike the dark, cavelike feel of my local panera), large and comfortable.  we were there around 1:30 i think, and the lunch crowd had already cleared out. 



selection: i had a really hard time choosing because the entire menu looks amazing.  they have a lot of wraps plus salads & sandwiches.  they also have flatbread pizzas.   missing is the large bread & pastry selection found at panera but there is a selection of breakfast wrap sandwiches, most of which have jasmine rice in them, (which aren't on the online menu, found here) and smoothies.  i have always been a huge fan of most any kind of chicken salad (except those with grapes in them.  i mean, why?) so that's what i got.  john wasn't too hungry so we shared the sandwich & he got an iced mocha.  i don't like nuts or seeds, so i asked for my sandwich without sunflower seeds. 

taste: this was one of the best chicken salad sandwiches i've ever had.  the dill seasoning on the chicken was a tasty surprise as was the swiss cheese.  in my experience, chicken salad doesn't normally come with cheese.  it doesn't usually come on beautiful & delicious marble rye bread either.  i like sprouts on sandwiches along with traditional toppings (like the tomato & lettuce on this sandwich) so i was happy to see these too.  it was just super duper yummy.  the sandwich came with red, white & blue tortilla chips along with some sweet & cool salsa.  the whole meal was just the definition of tasty.  the dill in the chicken, the rye bread, the swiss cheese: all the different tastes blended awesomely together.  i wasn't sure if john liked the coffee because he grimaced after his first sip but he told me he hadn't stirred it so the first gulp was straight, unsweetened espresso.  yeah, i would have grimaced too.  after stirring, he enjoyed it thoroughly.

service: everyone was very nice & helpful.  when we said it was our first time, the girl at the register was genuinely welcoming. it only took probably 10 minutes at the most for me to get my food but it took a bit longer for john to get his coffee. 

value: the prices are pretty similar to panera.  the sandwich was a little over $6 but it was huge & they didn't skimp on any of the ingredients.  we probably spent a total of around $12 for the sandwich, coffee & my soda.  even if we'd both ordered food, we probably wouldn't have spent more than $20 which is pretty inexpensive for the amount of food you get.



normally, we rate the bathroom, ranch dressing & reheatability of food but none apply in this case.  there were a few little extras that i liked: samples of the fresh baked cookies, lemon AND lime wedges at the drink counter and free refills on all coffee drinks.  i really liked camille's a lot.  i really want to go back to try the breakfast wraps and the flatbread pizza (among other things).  i like the bright, friendly atmosphere.  i just wish it was closer to our apartment (it's about 5 miles away but on super annoying, traffic-light-filled streets) so i could eat there more conveniently.  but, i will definitely be going back.  (and i will still go to panera for the fresh bread & pastries.)

overall grade: A

I remember having a bread at Panera's in Champaign, IL where it was made of roasted tomatoes... it was incorporated into the dough so the bread while brown from baking on the outside was pink from the tomatoes on the inside. Have you ever seen or had that? I love it.

it doesn't sound familiar but they come up with new stuff all the time. which is good except then you go back looking for an old favorite and it's gone (like my trusty veggie sandwich. they have a new one that isn't the same & not as good in my opinion). but the bread is always amazing. i wish i knew how to make their foccacia! if anyone has a good light & fluffy foccacia recipe, i NEED it!

Hey, good for you for finding Camille's. I know exactly what you mean about STL Bread/Panera. It's not the same. Loved the chicken salad with the sprouts and the vegetarian on the dark rye. The coffee's used to be awesome and I always had to try to take an asiago bagel if they still had any or a loaf of asiago bread home with me. Congrats on your new cafe find.