Two Boots to provide Echoplex menu

As we reported earlier, Two Boots, the 21-year-old New York pizza outpost, is gearing up to open its 10th restaurant, in Echo Park. What we didn't know at the time but just found out from owner Phil Hartman is that when the pizzeria opens (tentatively Dec. 8 but more likely on the 15th) it will take over the menu at the Echo and Echoplex. This is good news for hungry concertgoers who don't want to risk missing their favorite band by stepping next door.

Hartman is friends with Echo owner Mitchell Frank, and Frank had a key role in convincing Hartman to open an L.A. branch of Two Boots. "I fell in Love with Echo Park," says Hartman. "It reminds me of a mix of the East Village and Corona Queens, where the Mets play."

Hartman says that the menu at Two Boots L.A. will be similar to the New York menus (pizza, po' boys, salads), but he stresses that each Two Boots is crafted to reflect the personality of its neighborhood (see the mural, pictured). To that end, restaurants create menu items according to popular demand. Also, each makes a specialty pizza that reflects its home-base neighborhood.

"I assume in Echo Park it will be Latin-flavored," says Hartman, although he has not yet decided what it is. Finally, on weekends Two Boots plans to stay open past bar time, says general manager Sharon Kochanski.

The grand-opening party, which is not yet scheduled, will be tied in with musical acts at the club. (May we humbly suggest the band Pizza?)

Two Boots, 1814 W. Sunset Blvd., www.twoboots.com 

— Jessica Gelt

Photo: Two Boots. Credit: Jessica Gelt