From TikTok to Kimpton Hotels, butter boards just keep spreading

When the first butter board was posted on TikTok back in September, the idea was simple: spread softened butter on a wooden board, garnish creatively and serve with pieces of bread for dipping.

The idea, credited to a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based cook, quickly went viral and butter boards have since grown in showiness and scope. Now that sharing food has returned to its pre-pandemic popularity, butter boards fit right in—just like the still-trending charcuterie boards that preceded them.

The chefs at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants are now jumping on the trend, offering the “Holidays are Butter with Kimpton”—giving butter boards their own spins. Kimpton is marketing the boards both for on-premise holiday parties, Happy Hour snacks and festive takeout options for at-home gatherings. They range in price from $16-$18 and most are available throughout the holiday season until the end of the year.

While basic butter boards feature swirls of dairy butter topped with sea salt, herbs, spices and snippets of fruit or vegetables, the Kimpton chefs use different types of butter for the base and tap into a wide assortment of toppings and dippers. Here’s a sampling from the selection.

Shaker Spear at Kimpton Palladian, Seattle

The Shaker Seed Butter Board features sunflower seed butter, house-made Oregon fig cranberry jam, fresh figs, chocolate bits, banana chips, sea salt and candied sunflower seeds served with Washington apples

This sunflower seed butter board is served at Shaker Spear. /Photo courtesy of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

Double Take at Hotel Palomar Beverly Hills, Los Angeles

The Oven Dried Persimmon Butter Board is spread with unsalted butter and topped with oven-dried persimmon and cherries, toasted cashew crumble, flower honey, arugula and sea salt, served with a mini baguette

Blue Hound Kitchen & Cocktail at Hotel Palomar, Phoenix

Orange You Glad You Got This...Orange Pomegranate Butter Board has a base of citrus whipped butter that’s topped with pickled pomegranates, thyme and freeze-dried mandarin oranges; it’s served with toasted rosemary bread

The "Orange You Glad You Got This" butter board / Photo courtesy of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

The Commoner at Kimpton Hotel Monaco, Pittsburgh

The Pistachio Butter Board is composed of softened butter topped with Sicilian pistachios, gem lettuce and baby vegetables, served with artisan bread

EverBar at Kimpton Everly, Los Angeles

The Figgy Figgy Can’t You See…features figs, pistachios and pomegranate molasses over butter, served with an artisanal sourdough baguette