Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and I have excellent news for you if bread happens to be your love language: Panera's Double Bread Bowls are available nationwide. The iconic oval that took the internet by storm last year when Panera tested it in Philadelphia last July is now gracing the rest of bread stans with its presence, making you and your partner-in-bread-bowl the masters of your carb-laden destinies. There has never been a better time to be young and alive and full of various soups.
Like true love, the Double Bread Bowl is a thing of beauty that poets, artists, and dreamers the world over have sought over the expanse of humanity to capture; unlike true love, though, the Double Bread Bowl isn't around for long. Panera is only bringing it back starting Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, for a limited run that will end on Feb. 28. (For those of you who forgot February is a rudely short month, that is, in fact, the end of it.) It will retail for $9.99, which means that you and your Valentine can celebrate the holiday and the majesty of your love for a mere $5 each, give or take a few dozen giant Chocolate Chip Chipper cookies.
Just in case you forgot how glorious the Double Bread Bowl looks when beheld by human eyes, here is your reminder.
Now, I could wax poetic about love and all the other jazz that comes with it for Valentine's Day, but we might as well get down to the part of the holiday that really matters, which is picking which two hot liquids to stick in your bowl of bread. If you have a beloved, this is easy enough, since I presume in an equal partnership you will choose your own soups and have at it. In that case, you can skip this next portion.
But if you, like me, fully intend on walking into a Panera and taking a Double Bread Bowl to the face solo, you have to somehow choose between a whopping 91 possible combinations, per Panera. That's a lot of responsibility for a soup consumer. If you order online or via the app, though, the burden of choice can be lifted off of you; in fact, Panera rounded up five "fan favorite" combos, which are as follows: Chicken Noodle and Broccoli Cheddar; Creamy Tomato and Broccoli Cheddar; Broccoli Cheddar and Broccoli Cheddar; Bistro French Onion and Broccoli Cheddar; and Ten Vegetable and Creamy Tomato.
On a related note, people who are ordering Broccoli Cheddar and Broccoli Cheddar — R U OK? Blink twice if you need someone to save you with the glory of Creamy Tomato.
Also relevant to Valentine's Day at Panera are the oh-so-Instagrammy Heart Cookies, which are a perfect way to soak up all that bread and soup before you crash for your post-Panera Valentine's Day nap.
Just remember to take advantage of the Double Bread Bowls while you can — come March, these glorious, toddler-sized hunks of bread will be gone, and we will have to resume eating our soup out of individual-sized bread bowls like mortal beings again.
