Ended up going with Birch Butcher block from Home Depot. Long piece is 72″ x 25″, and short piece is 48″ x 25″.
Using a coat of oil based wood stain, and 3 coats of polyurethane, light sanding in between coats with 320 grit sand paper. I finished up by letting the final coat dry for 24 hours, and did a final wet sanding with 2000 grit sand paper to smooth out the finish completely.