Panino is Italian for sandwich, it literally means small bread.
Panini is something I first experienced in France, where it's made with a special semi-raw bread. I've never seen anything quite like it in Italy, though.
Panini and Panino are pretty much synonymous. Panini is just the anglicized word, although it seems the Italians don't generally grill them. I've had Panini/Panino in Italy, France, the UK, and Canada.
Ok, I'll give you a pass if you are from Italy, for example.
However, the story was about the Bay Area... and growing up in California I noticed a trend that exploded about 10 years ago.
Fancy, casual restaurants stopped selling sandwiches and "grilled-cheese",
upgraded the bread, and started calling them Panini.
The price was also increased by $5 dollars/per for a marginally better product.
Some people are looking for places to spend their relatively-high incomes. Ditto for other, oddball things that have come along, of late, like super-expensive shaving equipment (first thing that came to mind).
By all means, I'd love to know what kind of value it adds. Up to this point, I've assumed that this, and products in this category, are some sort of hipster fad.
hipster fad? double edge safety razors have been around since at least 1930. not really a 'fad' ;)
they normally provide a better/closer shave, much much cheaper blades (compared to gillette), greater selection of blades/razors. there are probably more advantages.
I'm quite aware that these kinds of razors were once commonplace. It is their [expensive] comeback that is noteworthy, and what I've dubbed a 'hipster fad'