Cheese Board Reopens, Bringing Collectively-Baked Pizza Back to Berkeley

Berkeley pizza institution the Cheese Board Collective has been temporarily closed since March 16, when the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order began. But now, its crispy sourdough pies are back, as the cooperative announced this week that it’s reopened for takeout.

Originally established as a cheese shop in 1967, Cheese Board went worker-owned in 1971, and still welcomes the hungry masses of Shattuck Avenue, feeding starving students and aging hippies with thin pizza, inventive salads, and exciting (and, oftentimes, local) cheeses.

The freshly reopened takeout situation is a limited menu to start, starring the co-op’s greatest hits. Its thin sourdough pizza is sold par-baked and by the half or whole, with a different vegetarian flavor every day (and a plain cheese option for the Kevins). Its sourdough bread comes in rounds or batards, although notably, its ultra-popular baguettes seem to be missing. And while the shop usually stocks up to 400 cheeses, they’ve trimmed it down to about a dozen different options, accompanied by deli nibbles. Fans will also be relieved to learn that the “Papi Chulo” spicy green sauce is back, laced with green chiles and cilantro.

No one will be surprised that the Berkeley collective is refusing to use delivery apps, and phone orders can only be made if you want eight pies or more. Local Cheese Board fans must order online, two days in advance, for curbside pickup only, and they’re closed on Sundays and Mondays. That means that if you want pizza this weekend, you’re going to have to smash those preorders today.