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photo credit: Jessie Clapp
Quarter Sheets Pizza Club
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With each passing year, those cheesy Hallmark cards carry more and more weight. As it turns out, the simple things in life are what matter most: Sipping cocktails by a pool, getting too competitive at family game night, staying in bed a little longer on the weekends. Or maybe just eating some pizza and cake with friends. And if there's an ideal place to do that last one, it's Quarter Sheets.
The Echo Park pizza parlor really only does two things: pan-style pizza and dessert. And it executes both of them at an extremely high level in a warm, old-school space where you can hang out for hours.
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Like many new LA restaurants, Quarter Sheets began as a pandemic-era pop-up offering takeout through Instagram. These days, you can find them at a permanent brick-and-mortar off Sunset Blvd. They still run a fierce takeout operation—as evidenced by the crowds waiting on the sidewalk who sell out pre-orders daily—but if you have the chance to dine in here, you should. Not only do you get access to a few dishes that aren’t available for takeout, you’ll also eat them in a charming, retro room that feels like a cross between a funky wine bar and a '90s-era pizza joint that you might’ve gone to after a soccer game. A rotating list of four to five natural wines doesn’t hurt the situation either.
photo credit: Jessie Clapp
Allegiances to different pizza styles run deep—you might prefer thin crust, Neapolitan, greasy NY slices, etc.—which is what makes arguing about which is the best one entertaining. But generally, there’s less ambiguity about whether a certain style is executed to perfection. At Quarter Sheets, you’ll find pan-style pizza in its peak form: a buttery, inch-high crust, and a spongy, focaccia-like interior that absorbs the flavors of the toppings. For customers who walk in to order, they also sell a Sicilian-style "corner slice," which comes out slightly thinner and with a crust so crisp, one time we bit into it and the table next to us looked over and said, “Wow, we heard that from here.” These are hefty pizzas, but the crust is so light and airy that taking a full one down with two to three friends won’t feel like a failed mission of testing your stomach capacity. And that’s a good thing, because there’s still dessert coming.
However intense Quarter Sheets’ pizza fans are, its dessert lovers are equally passionate. And it’s not difficult to see why. While it’s a fool's errand to chase specific desserts here—menu specials change weekly—you can feel comforted that whatever list of treats is stapled up on the wall that day is going to be incredible. It could be a spongy princess cake, peach-blackberry slab pie, or citrusy ricotta cheesecake. Either way, as you and your friends fork through what hits your table, listening to an oldies playlist filled with the likes of Ruby Johnson and Buddy Knox and re-upping on orange wine, it’ll be hard to ignore the feeling of blissful simplicity. After all, a little Hallmark moment never hurt anyone.
photo credit: Jessie Clapp
Food Rundown
photo credit: Jessie Clapp
Pepperoni
photo credit: Jessie Clapp
Sicilian Corners
photo credit: Jessie Clapp
Butter Beans
photo credit: Jessie Clapp