Review: When in Berkeley, Pizza at The Cheese Board is a Must

If it wasn’t for the wisdom of my Bay Area hosts, I would have never bothered eating pizza at The Cheese Board because of the long line of people that always bends around the corner.

I was assured, however, the wait is usually brief and well worth it.

Sure enough, we arrived at an exterior order counter in 10 easy minutes. It would soon become apparent why this combination cheese shop, bakery and pizzeria has maintained an unwavering cult following by Berkeley denizens ever since it was founded in 1967, at a time when the city was becoming ground zero for the hippy movement.

That progressive vibe carries over distinctly to The Cheese Board, which is nestled within Shattuck Avenue’s spirited business district. It sits almost directly across the street from the famed Chez Panisse, where restaurateur and social activist Alice Waters sparked the farm-to-table movement 50 years ago. Sucking in the aromas of baked cheese and yeasty dough, it’s easy to sense the culinary legacy hanging over this block.

The Cheese Board is a collective. It is owned 100 percent by the employees—and happy employees they appear. Seating is confined mainly to a cluster of wooden tables and benches built into the curbside landscape. Amid the commotion are live musicians and interactions occurring among a rainbow coalition of people who give Berkeley its cool, liberal edge.

The kitchen slings one type of vegetarian pizza a day. That’s it. The pies are sold whole—either fully cooked or par-baked. One of the big draws are the well-toasted mantles of cheese on the pies, not to mention veggie toppings that reflect what’s currently in season. Equally impressive is that the toppings stretch all the way to their perimeters.

I couldn’t have asked for a more appealing assemblage of ingredients the day we visited. We’re talking late-spring asparagus, fresh Italian parsley, garlic, cheddar, mozzarella, olive oil and organic lemon zest. Everything jived.

“It’s a baker’s pizza,” is how one of my hosts sums up his fondness for the pies. For a year, Zeke Lila lived two blocks from the shop and ate there once a week. Lucky guy. He also cited friends from New York who are (not surprising) snobs when it comes to pizza.

“They thought all Bay Area pizza was inferior and they would always shake their heads at it. This was the only place they recommended,” he added.

My hosts urged me to get the half-pint tub of green sauce, which nearly everyone buys for an additional few bucks. Sure enough, I witnessed many customers reflexively dipping their thin-ish crusts into it. The stuff is called “Papi Chulo salsa.” It’s a blend of Serrano chilies, mustard, olive oil, rice vinegar, cilantro, citrus, and garlic. Think of it as pesto’s more vivacious sibling.

All of the pizzas are 14 inches in diameter. We paid $22 for ours. As for those few additional slices sitting on top the pizza, I’m told that’s par for the course. Everyone gets them all of the time from a kitchen that understands the power of giving something away for free.

Aside from the daily pizza, which you can see listed in tempting detail for the coming five days on the website, the menu goes only a few notches further with a salad of colorful construction, house-made cookies (chocolate chunk on my visit), soft serve ice cream, sodas, beer and wine.

In the adjoining space, and earlier in the day, you can score artisan cheeses and praiseworthy baked goods. Right now they’re only available from a walk-up window until the business feels comfortable letting customers back inside to browse again, even despite the lifting of most Covid restrictions.

An employee I spoke to by phone last week said the interior bakery counter will probably reopen sometime in mid-summer. The pizza and cheese counters will likely follow suit a few weeks later.

For me, the only danger of stepping inside and seeing everything back in full display would be how much money I’d spend on such delectables as sourdough cheese rolls, blueberry scones, beer-rye bread, and the vast assortment of artisan curds.

Next visit, for sure.