MerrinDonahue.com

I made a Bistro-Style Steak Salad last night for dinner, and when I took some over to the neighbors, they brought it to my attention that I never blogged the Panera story.
You see, I really, really like the Bistro Steak Salad from Panera. It has all the yummy goodness a salad should possess: steak, bleu cheese, baby greens, and a tangy dressing. Hey, if you’re forced to eat salad, then at least give me some steak and cheese (shut up, Josh). So imagine my….er…..surprise (read: utter disgust) the last time I ordered this salad when I forked a rather large bite of…..um…..ginormous black trash bag into my mouth. Sure, I called the manager. They told me that they would refund my money this one time and that they didn’t use those kinds of trash bags in their establishment. Excuse me?!?!?!? I then calmly placed a call to the District Manager, who took two full days to call me back. He also reiterated the fact that black trash bags were not used by the local Panera. Hmmmm…….I was getting a little tired of being called a liar, so I told him that I had taken pictures of the offending salad. He then offered me gift cards. I respectfully declined, pointing out that the very last” thing I intended to do was dine at the restaurant again (I did tell him that a better option would be to make a donation to a local food bank once he was sure that the food was trash-bag free). My point was this: What if a child had accidentally choked on the bag? Certainly, a need to train Panera employees to be better aware of food prep existed.
All of this led me to create my own at-home version of the salad, which, I might add, was much better than theirs. The moral of the story is this: Save yourself a buck or two, and much digust, and make it your own damn self. Oh, and don’t eat at Panera.