Let's talk about Cheese Board
How long do you have to live in Berkeley to discover the sourdough-thin-crust-pizza industrial complex?
Part of my obsession with keeping an updated Yelp collection of Bay Area eateries (196 spots and counting) has led to a couple of realizations including 1) the fact that lavender lattes are an exclusively Bay Area phenomenon, 2) I now have an unsalvageable, high standard of croissant quality, and 3) that there is no biodiversity in pizza shops here.
Cheese Board, for the non-proselytized, is a worker-owned collective that originally opened as a cheese store and bakery in 1967.1 Workers began serving pizza in 1985 (accordingly, a result from experimenting with leftover sourdough and cheeses from the shop), and since then, it has become a crucial feature of Berkeley’s culture and history.
The model for a Cheese Board-esque pizza requires:
Sourdough, thin crust
No sauce
Vegetarian ingredients
A selection of different, unique pies each day
The addition of a special, complimentary slice or two to your order
Many other pizza shops have sprung up in the past couple of decades, following the same sort of recipe that Cheese Board pioneered. In fact, every main street in Berkeley has at least one of these places so you really don’t have to walk far if you ever find yourself craving a sourdough-thin-crust-pizza-with-mint-chutney-sauce. However, I find that these spots have a limited charm that is unable to compete with the overall ambiance of Cheese Board (daily live music from local groups during lunch and dinner hours!) and general inventiveness of their daily pizzas.
Here is a quick list of some copy-cat places I’ve discovered in the past 2 years of living in Berkeley:
Arizmendi Bakery
Arizmendi is part of the same worker cooperative as Cheese Board (which also includes the Berkeley Free Clinic!) and was supported/funded by Cheese Board itself during their early days. Think of them as sister bakeries/pizzerias.
Nabolom Bakery
A College Ave/Elmwood classic. Started as 1976, their history is unclear but it’s possible folks from Cheese Board ended up splitting to create this place after it become a co-op.
Nick's Pizza and Bakery Made in Oakland
Formerly owned by Nick Yapor-Cox who worked at Arizmendi for four years prior, now also a worker cooperative. The main difference about Nick’s is they cycle through different pies every week instead of each day.
Sliver Pizzeria
Originally started by three alums from Cheese Board and focused on donating a portion of their profits to nonprofits focused on ending human trafficking. Since then, Sliver has become more commercialized and whether or not they continue to follow their original mission is unclear…the pitfalls of capitalism! (I swear the workers at Sliver always look so miserable and I bet it’s because they’re not part of a co-op.)
Dimond Slice Pizza
Created by TWO of the founders of Sliver who eventually split off four years after Sliver originally opened. Basically another Sliver, but based in the heart of Oakland. It’s quite a messy pizza world out there.
This history, of course, doesn’t include other spinoff non-pizza bakeries and restaurants with founders that originally came from Berkeley institutions (talking about you, former Chez Panisse chefs). Convergent evolution indeed also applies to food.
Another thing about Cheese Board and its history as a co-op is that it provides a nice overview of the Bay Area labor movement (shout out to Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives, all my homies love NoBAWC)! Given the prominence of this type of pizza at nearly every local pie shop, it’s interesting to covet what Cheese Board originally created as a “Bay Area style pizza.” So much for #commiefornia.
In the mean time, I’ll be updating my Yelp collection of bakeries I’ve been planning to visit or have tried and received my seal of approval! Now back on to my journey of exploring all the bakeries and very, very silly pizza places around East Bay…
https://cheeseboardcollective.coop/about-us/about-main/