Battle Half-Sandwich-and-Soup Combo: Corner Bakery vs. Panera

Edwin Goei

Corner Bakery

​If I may overgeneralize, Panera and Corner Bakery are the fast-casual chain sandwich purveyors equivalent of Coke and Pepsi. Today, we measure the merits of one random item, bought at both: the 1/2 sandwich and soup combo. The sandwich will be the common denominator of tuna salad, and the soup will be whatever variant of cream of tomato they have on offer.

Cost: Panera Bread, $6.99. Corner Bakery, $7.49.

Pickles: CB includes a pickle spear. Panera does not. Winner (by default): Corner Bakery.

Edwin Goei

Panera

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Chips: Corner Bakery deposits their chips on the plate; Panera serves them in the bag. CB's chips are a touch greasier and slightly saltier. More oil seems to inhabit the potato pores in CB's than in Panera's. Hold them up to the light and light passes through as if they were stained glass. Panera's is not as greasy, not as salty, but also not as decadent. Both are of the crunchy, kettle cooked variety. We liked both. Winner: Tie.

Soup: Though both are topped with croutons, Panera's tomato soup seems to have already thoroughly engulfed its croutons and turned them into soggy cubes. CB's croutons seem to be able to resist the soup and remained crispy to the last spoonful. Panera's soup is fruity and tangy, as literal as you can get with tomato soup. Think of an upgraded Campbell's Cream of Tomato. CB's brew is darker, has more depth, and possesses a more rounded flavor that balances the sweet with richness and Italian spices. It is so close to marinara, in fact, that if you dipped cooked spaghetti into it, you can conceivably make another meal. Winner: Corner Bakery.

Edwin Goei

Panera

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Sandwich: CB's tuna sandwich easily outweighs Panera's by double. If the two were set side-by-side, CB's sandwich is bigger and looks like a 1/2 sandwich should look: like it's cut from a full sandwich. Panera's constructs theirs starting from a halved piece of bread. Panera's choice of bread is moist, almost cake-like. CB's is more rustic, more textured with seeds and grain.

CB's sandwich actually had more of everything. More lettuce that it could constitute a salad; more tuna; and more things inside the tuna. I detected celery and onion in CB's. Panera went the basic route: just mayo and the fish. Instead of tomato and a ring of red onion in Panera's, CB's contained tomato, shredded carrots and sliced cucumbers. All this contributed to a better tuna sandwich experience (if there were such a thing). Winner: Corner Bakery.

Edwin Goei

Corner Bakery

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Overall winner for this week's challenge: Corner Bakery.

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