Photography by Kathy Tran.
Crispy, bubbly crusts that are soft and chewy come out of the oven in four minutes at Neony Pizza Works.
All the ingredients except the dough are precooked, and virtually everything is made in-house, including red sauce, ranch, chili oil and sausage. The proprietary dough takes 72 hours to prepare.
“People just love the ‘cup-and-char,’” owner Alex Ham says. “It’s by far the most popular.”
Everyone loves little pepperoni cups, and this pie is drizzled with mascarpone, giving it a lustfully salty/sweet profile against the puffy texture of the crust.
The most creative pie is the banh mi, inspired by the Vietnamese sandwich, with house-made lemongrass sausage, cucumbers, cilantro and pickled carrots, drizzled with cilantro aioli.
Ham, who previously owned a pizza place in the Gangnam neighborhood of Seoul in South Korea, loves Vietnamese food and took cooking classes in Vietnam. Neony only serves pizza, drinks and dessert. He couldn’t put a sandwich on the menu, so he put his favorite sandwich on a pizza.
He and his wife, Eun Young, opened the restaurant at TyPo in November. Finding financing for their restaurant was difficult, so they sold their house in East Dallas to pay for it and now rent an apartment in Oak Cliff.
The owners aren’t complaining, but running a restaurant isn’t easy.
Prices are only going up. It’s difficult to find workers, and most of their employees are high-school students, which is one reason Neony hasn’t yet opened for lunch.
The owners come in around 11 a.m. to do all the prep before opening at 4 p.m., and they work until after the place closes at 9 or 10 p.m.
“We’re the luckiest people,” Ham says. “I say it all the time. We’re not making a lot of money, but just the fact that everything is falling into place, and we are enjoying being in this neighborhood. The timing is great, and we love being here.”
Weekday business can be hit or miss, but weekends tend to be busy, he says. When nights are hectic, and he’s tired, it’s all worth it to hear compliments from satisfied customers.
“Food is like a performance,” he says. “It’s a high.”
The pizzas are 14 inches and cost $14-$17. Add $4 for gluten-free cauliflower crust.
There’s also a pesto cream pizza with spinach, mushrooms, zucchini and house-made Italian sausage. The “sausage and friends” marries Italian sausage with red onions, mushrooms and jalapeños.
Beer and wine are on the menu, and it’s easy to order from the website via Clover and pick up your order.
Customers have asked for outdoor seating, and Ham is working on it. He says he welcomes feedback and is “charmed” by Oak Cliff, and “has a romantic view” of living out the entrepreneurial dream in our neighborhood.
“We’re very happy to be in this location,” he says. “We feel very fortunate that people like the place.”
Neony Pizza Works, 829 W. Davis St., neonypizza.com
Hours: 4-9 p.m. Sunday-Monday and Wednesday-Thursday, 4-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, closed Tuesday
