December 2005 Archives Panera Plate ProblemDecember 04, 2005 — When it comes to dishes and silverware, eating establishments have traditionally followed one of two models. They either provide you with disposable utensils you throw away or durable utensils they clean up for you. But the oh-so trendy Panera Bread has meddled with this silverware status quo to create a frustrating and disgusting end to an otherwise pleasant dining experience. If you've never been to Panera Bread, let me explain how things work. You order something like a bistro-style free range pulled chicken pannini with chipotle mayonnaise and balsamic vinaigrette on basil-pesto foccacia bread and they serve it to you on real dishes with real silverware. So you assume model two – that they will clear your mess, like a traditional sit-down restaurant or a hybrid service restaurant like Chin's or Noodles. You can wait if you'd like, but I can assure you that no one comes to clean up your mess. You have to do it yourself. Don't me wrong. Cleaning up one's mess is perfectly acceptable when disposable items are involved. You can usually take your tray, flick off your mess into the garbage, and slide the tray onto a pile. The fundamental reason why this process works is because everything can go in the garbage and you don't need to pick through your mess or carefully co-mingle your mess with other people's mess. At Panera, you must pick through your tray and separate disposable items from durable items. For those of us who tend to shred napkins, mangle straws, and destroy paper cups, this leaves a pretty elaborate mess. Although sifting through my mess is time-consuming and annoying, dealing with the non-garbage-worthy dishes and silverware is even worse. Instead of a toss into a garbage can, you need to carefully place each delicate bowl, plate, and utensil into a saliva- bathed, germ infested, bisque-residue-ladden tub of those who went before you. It's nasty, it's disgusting, and I hate it. Sure, there are more disgusting places in the world than the dirty dish bin at Panera Bread. But those places certainly don't try to position themselves as a hip, trendy, and polished urban bistro. Heck, even Highlander (CMU's dining hall) allowed freshman college students to slide their dirty tray into a rack and leave the sorting through the mess to someone else. A Whole Lotta PicsDecember 26, 2005 — Due to popular demand, here are a bunch of random new picture galleries from November and December. Enjoy!
December 30, 2005 — The year in review is now a smandel.com tradition. Here are my top 50 pictures of the year.
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