"Neony Pizza Works is now open in Oak Cliff, turning out pies made with fermented dough and topped with everything from jalapeño pepperoni to the fixings of a banh mi sandwich. Located at 829 W Davis Street, the hotly-anticipated new pizzeria celebrated its grand opening yesterday after softly opening last week — and so far, Neony Pizza Works has been selling out. “We didn’t expect that,” says owner Alex Ham, a commercial photographer by trade who recently turned “pizza head.” Ham started a similar New York-style pizzeria in Seoul several years ago, and now he and his wife Eun Young are back in Dallas to sell their pies made with 72-hour dough and creative toppings. “I got really interested in the dough,” Ham explains about the process in which the dough goes through a 72-hour cold fermentation for more complex flavor and easy digestion. There are veggie, margherita, jalapeño pepperoni, and sausage and mushroom pies — as well as unique flavors like a pizza topped with a pesto cream base, sausage, spinach, zucchini, and mushroom. A pizza featuring “cup and char” pepperoni is topped with whipped mascarpone cheese. “It’s almost like putting whipped cream on top, but a little bit less whipped and a little less sweet,” Ham explained, calling it a salty and sweet combination. Banh mi is another creative pizza, turning the flavors of the Vietnamese sandwich into a pie topped with house cilantro aioli, lemongrass sausage, cilantro, pickled carrot, and mozzarella on top. Ham originally thought about opening a banh mi shop in Seoul, even traveling to Vietnam to take cooking classes, but decided to go into pizza instead. This pie blends his two interests. So far, it’s been one of Neony’s biggest hits, with a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese to meld the banh mi flavors. “We just put a little cheese to balance it out,” Ham says. Neony is open from 4 to 9 p.m., Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays." - Adele Chapin
