Cheap Eats - College daze

Spring break’s over for Rocky Mountain Pizza Company

Forget about the tight living quarters and 9 a.m. exams. It’s the weekend benders and pizza binges that make college college. By day, the Rocky Mountain Pizza Company attracts a steady clientele of midday snackers looking for the dough and cheese of their youth. Look into their eyes and you see a once-thin student — one who’s since filled out to a size 39 waist thanks to a steady diet of fries and chicken fingers.

By night, booths are turned over to Georgia Tech regulars. Engineers-to-be cheer the Yellow Jackets amid beer regalia and the odd snowboard or ski pole. Mondays feature Simpsons trivia, where you’ll see the geeks at their best, competing for beer and prizes to a soundtrack of blaring rock hits.

Pizza by any other name: The restaurant’s signature pizzas ($6.99 individual size, $15.99 large) are branded with clever names like the South Forty (pepperoni, Italian sausage, green peppers, onions) and the Colorado Cowboy (meatballs, onions, three cheeses). But the toppings aren’t enough to disguise the sweet, soggy crust — like Chuck E. Cheese dressed up for the college crowd. The menu says the crust is brushed with a secret “Love Potion” of olive oil and herbs. Leave mine sad and lonely. The Smokehouse is a good choice for the tomato-impaired, with barbecue and chicken chunks, applewood smoked bacon, and jack and cheddar cheeses (even if the doughy crust doesn’t do the ingredients justice).

Hot pizza: Stick to all things spicy, like hot wings (10 for $5.49). The buffalo sauce also shows up on the buffalo chicken sandwich ($5.29); a chicken breast is soaked in this tongue-torching stuff, which sears nose hairs as it nears the mouth. But you may want to lose the thick, overwhelming breading and knife and fork it. Chunks of the chicken covered in the sauce make an appearance on a pizza as well — a fun combo that also includes blue cheese.

Our way: The Extreme Burger ($5.29) is a simple patty served straight-up with lettuce and tomato — so the Smokehouse Burger ($5.99) seemed like a good idea. For 70 cents more, you get cheddar-jack cheese, a layer of sweet, dark barbecue sauce and applewood smoked bacon crumbles. But when I asked for the burger cooked medium rare, I was shot down. “Sorry, all our burgers are cooked medium well,” said the server. Great, shoe leather. He said he’d try, but when it arrived, it was cooked to a big, fat crisp. And with the dry, toasted sesame bun, it made for slow going. The side of crispy sweet-potato fries dusted with cinnamon weren’t much of a bonus either.

Drink more for less: So what makes this one of the most popular college hangouts? Beer, of course. Miller Light, Icehouse, MGD and Presidente longnecks go for just $1.50. Deals include $2.50 Newcastle pints and other featured pitchers for a bargain. And that makes any meal go down a lot easier.

jerry.portwood@creativeloafing.com