Food Weekend Post #1

Last weekend, mom came into town on Friday for a visit and to take me home for easter. It was a weekend full of delicious food! After I got out of class on Friday, I took her to Fat Face (of course) and had a delicious meal made up of 3 different sandwiches, a bowl of soup and a salted carmel custard for dessert. Then we stopped next door at Let Them Eat Cake to get a few cupcakes--they had a new one, tiramisu, and it was so tasty! That night, we went out with my roommate, Caitlin, to Katmandu--my favorite place in davis for Indian/Himalayan food. The next morning, we woke up early to go on our next food adventure at the Davis Farmer's Market! We bought plenty of delicious food for our Easter meal and then we settled down to a breakfast sandwich and beignets from Fat Face (yes, they are at the Farmer's Market too!) delicious! I love being able to show my mom around all of my favorite food places when she visits.

Mom eating her dessert at Fat Face.

Then, we set out for Berkeley to have lunch with my brother (and convince him to go back to Fresno with us). We continued our incredible food weekend there by stopping by The Cheese Board Pizza Collective for lunch. The Cheese Board Pizza Collective was born from the original Cheese Board Collective which began as a small bread and cheese shop and was (and is) an employee owned business. They eventually started making pizza a few days a week and it became so popular that along with a new, larger space, they were able to make their pizza sales a full time thing. The 6 members of The Cheese Board Collective searched for new members to form The Cheese Board Pizza Collective and thus it was born. They only serve one type of pizza a day and you can find out the Pizza of the Day by stopping by their website.

The Cheese Board Pizza Collective 
1512 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA
510-549-3055

As we waited in the massive line outside the pizzeria, the walls/doors were opened up so we could see the inside of the shop and hear the musicians playing. After ordering our pizza, we took it across the street to the meridian--a tad weird, I know, but this is what you do at The Cheese Board. Despite numerous signs around the restaurant and on the grassy meridian telling people not to, it seems to have become quite the tradition to take your pizza and picnic on the meridian. By the time we left, the whole meridian was completely covered by people eating their delicious pizza. What a tradition!

Tomato with gruyere cheese, onions and fresh herbs

I'm not a huge pizza fan...actually in might be a better description to say that I'm an extremely picky pizza eater. But this pizza was delicious! I'm surprised I was able to stop at 2 pieces and not devour the whole thing in one sitting. The ingredients were simple, but they worked so well together. (Once, my mom went and the pizza had lemon olive oil, caramelized onions, figs and blue cheese! Oh my.) Normally, I really don't like fresh tomatoes on pizza, but somehow they made it work here--I think it was the thinness of the slices of tomato. I can't think of a better lunch than sitting in the grass with the sun shining down and eating a slice of Cheese Board Pizza.

After having our fill of pizza, we ventured over to the cheese and bread part of The Cheese Board Collective to buy a few cheeses for appetizers on Easter. I've never seen so much cheese in one place! The cheese wrapped around the store and you had to take a card and wait to be called by one of the employees. Once you were called, the employees were so nice and would help you decide what you wanted by giving plenty of generous samples.

The Cheese Board Collective
1504 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley
510-549-3183

We ended up buying a triple cream that completely melted and tasted almost like butter and a brie that was much stronger and went perfectly with a nutty bread that we bought from the Davis Farmer's Market that morning. Ever since, I've been wanting a really good cheese, but Safeway's collection just doesn't cut it. I see a trip to the Davis Coop in my near future.