Turnaround at Au Bon Pain

I didn't really intend for this to be a foodblog, but given that I am obsessed with eating, I guess it's not surprising that the subject comes up frequently. My tastes run the gamut from fast food to gourmet, all of it horribly bad for me. Don't be surprised if I rave about everything I write about here; I'm very excitable when it comes to food, and I'm much more likely to be inspired to blog about something I found delicious.

I've run hot and cold on the Boston-based sandwich-maker Au Bon Pain over the years. They really do have terrific bread, and were serving creative café sandwiches long before Panera Bread was the darling of Wall Street. On the other hand, the quality of ingredients and service has been decidedly uneven, and for a long time the menu was stagnant.

Fortunately, four years after being acquired by the U.K.-based Compass Group, they've started doing a lot of things right: The new ordering scheme, with paper forms going directly to the sandwich makers, is a big improvement from trying to explain what you wanted to a cashier with 10 people waiting behind you. Service, at least at the Kendall Square location I frequent, has become friendly and capable. Delectable new meats and cheeses and their new "artisanal" breads have spiced up the menu. Every other week, it seems, there's a new sandwich to try, and my experimentation has been rewarded as they've been uniformly delicious.

The inspiration for this entry was their latest stroke of culinary genius, the "baked sandwich". Available premade in three varieties (the tuna with cheddar and red peppers is particularly scrumptious), they're rosemary foccacia rolls stuffed with ingredients and baked in parchment paper. They're a win-win for customers and the store: they taste great and are ready right away, and premade so they save work during the lunch rush. They've also resisted the temptation to load them up with spreads and other extras that would push the calorie count into the stratosphere.

The chain is still not all the way there: service at outlying locations (e.g. the Davis Square store in Somerville) is weak, and the newly redecorated Kendall Square location has the style of a bad airport lounge (and I like airport lounges), but they've made terrific progress.

UPDATE: I note from the referral logs that several people have hit this post while looking for nutritional information on these sandwiches. Au Bon Pain is one of the better fast-casual places in this area, and keeps their website pretty up to date with their latest options. Here's the info on the parchment-wrapped baked sandwiches. Luckily for me, the tuna is one of the healthiest!

BONUS UPDATE: Here's a BusinessWeek article on the trend and the chef behind these blockbuster sandwiches.