Boardroom Decisions

by

comment
All aboard the meat flight. - JENNIFER FUMIKO CAHILL
  • Jennifer Fumiko Cahill
  • All aboard the meat flight.


Somewhere in Los Angeles, a restaurant owner is poring over reclaimed barn wood samples and polishing the hell out of a concrete floor to achieve a rustic farm vibe to go with his or her artisanal meats. Godspeed.

No such staging required at The Boardroom (3750 Harris St., Eureka), though the redwood slab counters don't hurt. The tasting room for Ryan Creek Root Cellar's charcuterie (made there in the back) is but a quick trot from the Cow Palace and the arena where prize pigs are judged every year at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. That's farm cred.

There's room to roam and graze among the cutting boards of sliced sausages, pickles and cured meats. There's also a respectable selection of beer on tap, in bottles and canned (even Hamm's for the nostalgic) and a handful of fancy sodas, wine and cider. Hours are limited — it's open from 5 to 10:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and 3 to 10:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

Board No. 5, the "meat flight," is stacked with nearly everything ($15) into which we swapped spears of aged cheddar and Edam for the pickles. The salamis, one warmly spiced with red pepper and the other sagey as Thanksgiving stuffing, are dotted with globes of fat. The dry-aged pork shoulder coppa, with its fat in melting streaks and loops, is a deeper, richer choice for prosciutto lovers. The summer sausage, or gothaer, comes as a nice earthy, peppery surprise for those of us who recall the rubbery mass market variety from gift baskets of yore. Simpler and saltier were the pale pink petals of lean Canadian bacon and the chicken mortadella, which, being wetter and mealier, was the only thing left behind on the board.
Pickled eggs and jardinerè. - JENNIFER FUMIKO CAHILL
  • Jennifer Fumiko Cahill
  • Pickled eggs and jardinerè.
Small plate No. 3 ($9) is a vinegary dive into the house jardinerè — a little jar of tart and crunchy cauliflower, sweet peppers and is that zucchini? — surrounded by a Ziegfeld Follies ring of firm pickled eggs in beet fuchsia and turmeric yellow. The tart zing is not a bad note to end on, nor was the last translucent slice of coppa everyone else was too shy to swipe.


Add a comment