The Boarding Pass: Our In-⁠House Charcuterie Board

October 7, 2026

Open our menu to lunch or dinner and the first appetizer listed is a board. The Boarding Pass is Solera's in-house charcuterie board: three cured meats, three artisan cheeses, seasonal accompaniments, grilled bread, jam, olives, and crackers. It's $34 and serves two to three people. If you're looking for a charcuterie board in Seal Beach that you can sit down with, a glass in reach, this is the one.

The photo above, for the record, isn't The Boarding Pass; it's a bigger spread. The Boarding Pass is the smaller, at-the-table version, with no advance notice needed, and I'd argue it's the better way to meet our charcuterie.

Three and three

The menu doesn't list the specific meats and cheeses, so ask your server what's on it that day. What I can describe is the logic of the thing.

Three is the smallest number that lets you compare. With one cheese, you just eat it. With two, you pick a favorite and move on. With three, you start noticing things: which one wants the jam, which one is better with the meat than on its own, which one changes what your wine tastes like. Three meats and three cheeses give you nine pairings before you've touched an olive.

Meat for salt and fat, cheese for richness. The jam and the seasonal accompaniments add the sweetness and acid that keep the fourth bite as interesting as the first, and the olives cut through everything. Then there's the bread and the crackers, and you'll want both. A cracker snaps where grilled bread gives.

I like a board where each piece gets some room. Six meats and cheeses for two or three people does that.

A name that's a little on the nose

It's the first thing on the menu, and a boarding pass is how you get on. A lot of our menu borrows from aviation: Preflight Bread Service, The Hangar, Flaps Down, The Layover, Ground Control. This one just happens to be in the right spot for the joke.

I'll admit it works better when you're holding the menu.

The pour

Charcuterie is forgiving with wine, but salt and fat do best with acid, bubbles, or something salty enough to meet them halfway. My first pick from our list is the Osborne Manzanilla, a bone-dry sherry from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, at $15 for a three-ounce pour. Manzanilla has a saline edge, and next to cured meat it makes the fat feel lighter. Dry sherry with cured ham is a classic pairing in Spain for good reason. If you like it, the Solera System flight ($30) pours it alongside two other sherries, and the post on our name explains why sherry has a home here at all.

Not a sherry person? The Vilarnau Cava ($12 for three ounces) does a similar job with bubbles. For a red, I'd reach for the El Niño de Campillo Tempranillo from Rioja ($13 for three ounces); I find it easygoing enough not to fight the cheese. Small pours suit a board, since the board is a good excuse to try more than one glass. How to read our wine list covers the pour sizes if they're new to you.

One practical note before you order. The Boarding Pass carries the G, D, and N codes on our menu: gluten, dairy, and tree nuts. If any of those matters to you, tell your server first so we can talk it through.

Feeding a crowd at home

If you're dining in with a bigger group, the answer is simple: order more than one Boarding Pass. If the party is somewhere else, that's what the take-out boards are for, and they're available for take-out only. The Tide ($150) serves four to six, and the Harbor ($200) handles eight to ten. Bigger than that, the Coast feeds twelve to fifteen for $300 and the Voyage feeds twenty or more for $450, both arriving on two or more boards. All four need 24 hours notice, and board pricing is subject to change, so ask for current pricing when you order.

The menu describes them as artisanal cheeses, cured meats, seasonal accompaniments, nuts, jam, olives, and crackers, which is the same idea scaled for a crowd. Our charcuterie page has more on ordering, and the full menu lists every take-out board on its charcuterie tab.

For two or three people, though, I'd keep the board at the table. The bread is grilled, the wine is a few feet away, and nobody has to drive it anywhere. If that sounds like your evening, reservations are here.

How much is the charcuterie board at Solera?

The Boarding Pass, the charcuterie board on the lunch and dinner menus, is $34 and serves two to three people. The larger take-out boards start at $150 for the Tide, which serves four to six; board pricing is subject to change, so ask for current pricing.

Do I need to order Solera's charcuterie boards ahead of time?

Not The Boarding Pass; it's on the regular lunch and dinner menu. The four take-out boards (Tide, Harbor, Coast, and Voyage) all require 24 hours notice.