Cenzo's Pizza & Deli in Oak Cliff — A Neighborhood Haunt in the Making

Chad Dolezal was born in Dallas, but his culinary travels have taken him across the country. After spending 10 years in Austin, the grind of being a chef and restaurateur wore him down to a breaking point.

“I was going in at 7 in the morning and would be done between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. And it was seven days a week,” Dolezal says. “I thought maybe that was the way it was supposed to be? But if that was how it was going to be, I knew I had to figure out another way.”

So Dolezal packed up his family and moved back to Oak Cliff, where he lives less than a mile from his year-old pizza spot, Cenzo’s Pizza & Deli. He, his friend and partner Vinnie Sherman, who grew up a few blocks from the restaurant and still lives in the neighborhood, and chef Jason Smith have created a local spot that feels like a decades-old part of the neighborhood.
Dolezal says he knew he wanted to do a pizza place, and having previously worked in Austin with Smith, who has a heavily pizza-centric resume and was working at Pie Tap, he decided to reach out. Dolezal recalls catching up with Smith at his workplace.

“We were catching up, and I had told him that we were looking to do a pizza spot. He just kind of said ‘Oh, cool,'” Dolezal says with a smile. “Jason, you can never tell if he’s excited or not; he’s only got one level. When I was leaving, I stuck my head back there and told him it was great to see him, then I got in my car, and there was a text from him that said, ‘I’m in.’”

Sherman, whose background is in real estate, helped purchase an old gas station at the corner of Tenth Street and Jefferson Boulevard that was formerly a laundromat with a snow cone bar. Over the course of 18 months, they navigated permitting and zoning with the city, then gave the building a makeover. The gas station bones are still evident, with a pair of rollup bay doors that can be opened when the weather’s nice. The overhang for gas pumps is now a fenced patio, where families can enjoy a meal and the kids have room to run and play.
Cenzo’s is a counter-service place where the ordering counter is divided roughly in half. On one side, new arrivals place their food and beverage orders. Meanwhile guests looking for a refill on a local beer or a glass of wine can step up to the other half. That area is also the main route between the patio and the dining room, and at peak times, it gets a bit hectic.

Dolezal tells us that Smith “steers the ship” when it comes to pizzas. Cenzo's offers only one size, a substantial 18-inch pie that can easily feed several people. Cenzo’s pizzas start with a house-made dough that Smith proofs for two days before it's stretched and tossed into a thin New York-style crust. For the pizzas we tried, the end result is a slice with crunchy and pillowy edges that segues into a chewy center. On one visit, the center of the pizza was a bit floppy and doughy, but we consider that a one-off that we didn't experience on other visits.
We’re delighted that all the house pizzas are named for streets in the Oak Cliff area. There are eight red sauce pies and three white pizzas on the menu, plus a rotating pizza of the month. Be warned; the Montclair ($24.50), with capicola, jalapeño, pineapple and hot honey, packs a seriously spicy kick. On a lazy Sunday lunch visit, we opted for Montclair with Italian sausage, roasted leeks and caramelized fennel that gives an aromatic and slightly sweet twist to each bite. So struck we were by the caramelized fennel that when we came back a week later to try a white pizza, the Montreal ($23) with goat cheese, mushrooms and more magic fennel, was the obvious play.
Given the size of the pies, you may be inclined to skip an appetizer. We’re here to tell you that’s a mistake. There’s whipped ricotta ($14) with your choice of topping — we opted for pistachios — that can be scooped out with pieces torn from the house-made bread. Or you could go crunchy with the fried artichoke hearts and crisped salami ($12). The flash-fried crisps definitely have a repeatability factor for snacking, and the creamy garlic aioli dipping sauce made a beeline from our mouth to the dopamine centers of our brains. Fried mozzarella ($12) gets a crunchy boost from potato chips fried into the exterior, and the side of marinara for dipping speaks in Old World tongues.

We’ve previously gushed at length about Cenzo’s fancy fried bologna ($12.50) with mortadella and pistachio butter. Dolezal swears “hand to God” that the sandwich was close to coming off the menu because it wasn’t selling, until our food editor sang its praises to all who would listen. But that doesn’t mean you should sleep on the Italian Deli ($13.50). All the Italian meats are represented — prosciutto, capicola, salami, and pepperoni — with lettuce, tomato, onions, provolone, and peppers. For people who love Jimmy’s in East Dallas, we offer a worthy alternative.
When Dolezal came back to Dallas three years ago, he hoped to open a new restaurant that could also be a shift from the long hours and low pay that plague so many chefs and restauranteurs. A year after Cenzo’s opening, Dolezal’s plan is working well.

“We are still here a lot,” Dolezal says of his work-life balance. “We’re here most days, but it is the opposite of any place else I've ever worked, and it's nowhere close to the amount of hours.”

Budget-conscious diners may look at a $23 pizza and balk at the price, but Cenzo’s is using that price point both to serve better pizza and to take care of the staff. During COVID, much of the public became aware of just how hard it is to work in the hospitality industry, but the industry-wide shift that Dolezal had hoped for hasn’t yet occurred. Nevertheless, Dolezal is sticking to his beliefs.

“I get that people might say you're not as cheap as Pizza Patron. And they're right — we’re not,” Dolezal tells us. “We make our ricotta here, we obviously make our doughs and all these things are ours and we work really hard at them, and our menu reflects that. Nothing here is an assembly line.”

“But we also pay our people really well, and we’re looking out for them, which doesn’t happen in hospitality," he adds.

The neighborhood has bought into Dolezal’s premise. Cenzo’s has become a gathering spot for the locals that feels like it’s been here forever, not just a year. Sure, you can come for a great pie and killer sandwiches, all infused with chef-driven flair. But you’ll stay for the slice of neighborly love that comes from a restaurant that’s doing all the right things off the menu too.

Cenzo's Pizza & Deli, 1700 W. Tenth St. Tuesday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.