One of the highlights of visiting my kids in Berkeley is pizza at The Cheese Board Collective. This place opened in the Gourmet Ghetto more than 50 years ago and has a line every single day it’s open. It’s incredible. They make one type of pizza per day. Period. You can order one full pie or half a pie. If you want to order ahead — the minimum is eight pies. The staff is cooking as fast as humanly possible, pizza coming in and out of the oven into boxes and out the door. They’re only open for hot-out-of-the-oven pizza from 5 to 8 p.m. Often, they close sooner than 8 p.m. when they run out.
The only issue we had with the visit to Cheese Board this past weekend was my husband. He’s not a stand in line and wait kind of guy. Usually one of my kids will do that and bring the pizza to their apartment, where we’ll devour it. My son’s girlfriend was working, my daughter was also working, so my son suggested we go to the restaurant and eat.
My son called and said, “Dad’s going to freak. Don’t rush over here.” Cheese Board was located between our airbnb and our son’s apartment, an easy half mile walk for us.
When we arrived, our son was halfway through the three- or four-block line, 25 minutes in. My husband said, “Let’s go somewhere else.”
“Don’t you want to stand and talk to your son?” Our son countered.
So we stood, talked and people watched. It’s quite an experience and the end result is sheer deliciousness.
I got a call from my daughter on her way home from work. “There’s no pizza left, right?”
How long would you wait in line at a restaurant? How long would you wait for a slice of pizza? Do you have restaurants in your area that have a following like this?
I remember queueing for pizza in Brooklyn once. It was the biggest pizza I’d ever seen and so worth the wait!
Cheese Board is worth the wait, too. I wish we had anything that good close to us.
We have this discussion often. I do not like to wait in line, so if I want something I go when the place is first opening. We tried a pizza place in Sunday and there were six people on line but we decided to wait it out. 6 people is usually my limit, unless I’m with my daughter and then we just go with it. My husband is much worse about waiting in line
I take it three or four blocks would be too long? 😅They start lining up before it opens at Cheese Board. But getting anywhere early is a good strategy.
I’m probably not waiting three blocks
Okay, I’m not usually one to stand in line, but this looks incredible. This is something I would do on vacation because it’s an experience, and I’m all about new experiences. I’m adding this to my travel bucket list because of your post. 🙂
That’s great! You won’t be disappointed.
I’ve eaten there! I also remember a line, although not as long as the one in your photo. I love the concept of a single pizza offering a day… brilliant!
It’s a great concept. This was the third biggest line according to my son.