KILLER CRUST PIZZA (1791 Oconee Connector, Suite 420, 706-850-0125): I did not have high hopes for this restaurant when I first heard about it. Its owners have connections to Doughby’s, which used to be open in Watkinsville and made gigantic slices of pizza that were mainly notable for their measurements. Its location, in the former Charlie Grainger’s hot dog franchise in the middle of the sprawling Epps Bridge shopping center, isn’t long on charm. Its logo, a pointy-nosed anthropomorphized slice of pizza with greaser vibes and a pepperoni-ed face that calls to mind intense acne, is confusing. But here’s the big old but: Killer Crust is turning out some of the best pizza in the Athens area.
It doesn’t have quite the charm or even the late-night no-frills vibes of other local favorites, but its name is accurate. The skinny space is tight, with a few tables out front and a few more inside; the walls are plastered with weird, groovy art for sale. You’re at the register the moment you walk inside, and if it’s busy, you might need to take a few steps back to ponder what you want to order. But what a pizza. It’s a classicist’s New York-style slice, but blasted in the oven before serving so that you don’t have to fold it or resort to a knife and fork to dig right in. Even when topped with a lot of heavy stuff, the crust holds up. It doesn’t balloon into the kind of puffy, flour-dusted butt-end as a lot of places, and sometimes that kind of composition can be very good, but it’s also not a cracker crust. It just feels… right. It’s better by the slice than by the whole pie because of that crisp-up from nose to tail, but the whole pies are solid, too, and the large is big enough to make you do some Tetris in your fridge with the leftovers. Most specialty pies are available by the slice if you ask, including the Houseboat (ground beef, mushrooms, spinach, pickled jalapeño slices, crumbled feta, mozzarella—a combo that could be sad and wilty, but here is punchy and fun) and the Hot Hawaiian (bacon, pineapple, jalapeño, sriracha honey drizzle, not overdoing it on the latter). Sandwiches are good, too, with a similar focus on reducing sogginess. The meatball sub is simple and well executed: not sopping, not too sweet, not dry. Even the basic house salad with house dressing (a slightly creamy balsamic vinaigrette) is unexpectedly delightful.
Killer Crust has good lunch specials and a selection of beers, will make you your pie as a calzone should you want, and moves reasonably quickly. It’s open 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
TWO FISH MYANMAR CUISINE (980 Rowland St., Suite 4130, in Clarkston, 404-980-1643): Am I going to suggest you drive to Clarkston to check out this charming Burmese restaurant in a slick new mixed-use development? It’s just a little over an hour away, and it has some of the best and most interesting food I’ve eaten in the last year, so yep. Burmese food exists at the intersection of Indian, Chinese and Thai, but with lots of surprising elements, especially when it comes to texture. The family that runs this place used to do so out of their house, but their brick-and-mortar space is small and warm, with a community table that bridges inside and outside. There’s contemporary Christian music on the stereo, and the napkin dispenser has been fashioned from a Kleenex box. Everything you order comes in a disposable container, but even now, months later, I can’t get the flavor of the tea leaf salad out of my taste memory. It mixes fermented tea leaves with shredded cabbage, tomato, roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, fried yellow split peas, fried garlic and dried shrimp, plus a vinegary, fishy, spicy dressing to make a dish that crunches unexpectedly, pokes your sinuses and generally makes your brain do fireworks. Dishes that are vegetarian often seem like they aren’t, with fungi that have a hearty meat-like texture. Kyay oo, a pork meatball soup that somewhat resembles pho, also includes quail egg and tofu made with yellow split peas. The menu is sizable, and there are cute desserts like falooda (rose syrup, grass jelly, peanuts, ice cream) and mont let saung (cendal jelly noodles, palm sugar syrup, sesame seeds, coconut) in the cold case. Don’t know what to order? The owners will happily steer you in the right direction. If you’re on your way to or from Atlanta, it’s definitely worth a detour. Two Fish Myanmar is open from 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Monday through Saturday (closed Sunday).
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