Enzo’s is back on Colfax. Again. (Sort of)

In what might be Denver’s longest-running pizza saga, another Enzo’s is slinging pizzas along Colfax again. It’s just not the Enzo’s you remember. 

As many longtime Denverites will recall, Enzo’s End held down the fort at 3424 E. Colfax Ave. since 1996, serving some of the city’s best and most beloved pizza for 28 years until owner Charlie Puma hung up his peel in 2024.

While that marked the end of Enzo’s End, the Enzo’s name lived on when new owner Bob Cherenzia took it over in March of last year, hoping to make a go of it as Enzo’s on Colfax. At the time, Cherenzia said he’d have preferred a different name, but Pete Siahamis, owner of the building where the pizzeria sits and neighboring cash-only bar PS Lounge, wanted to retain the Enzo’s brand. So it stayed. (Cherenzia justified it by noting he has a son named Enzo.)

However, that effort proved short-lived. On the second day of business, construction work on the Colfax Bus Rapid Transit project reached the street out front, with fencing blocking the sidewalk and storefront. Cherenzia, seeing business suffer, tried launching a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the losses — but to no avail. This past April, Enzo’s on Colfax also served its last slice. 

That closure, however, was equally short-lived, as yet another pizza effort has risen from Enzo’s on Colfax’s ashes, this time called Enzo’s Brick Oven Pizza. The new owner is Simon Campari, a native of Milan, Italy, who’s been in the local restaurant business for over two decades.

That includes a stint at Boulder’s now-closed Slice Shack, and most recently the Il Pizzaiolo inside the Tight End Bar on Colfax, which closed after his kitchen lease ended. Other previous efforts include Aurora’s New Yorker’s All American Diner.

Campari says he’s also bringing another outpost of Il Pizzaiolo to Littleton’s Southwest Plaza later this year. In the meantime, he’s the latest owner looking to justify the Enzo’s moniker — Campari notes his middle name is Lorenzo, at least — but the pizza at the new Enzo’s is notably different than the thin-crust versions served previously. 

“This is hand-tossed, New York style pizza,” Campari says. 

The pizza menu spans a number of house signatures — like The Enzo (pepperoni, salami and capicola) and The Godfather (prosciutto, capicola, cherry peppers and hot honey), all with a notably thicker crust than the Enzo’s of old. The restaurant also features a line of calzones, pinza sandwiches and subs, and even a series of pastas like penne with vodka sauce, baked ziti and chicken alfredo. 

While operating in the shadow of the original Enzo’s End can’t be easy for any restaurant taking over the iconic space and name, the location has every reason to succeed on paper. Patrons of the attached PS Lounge provide a built-in customer base, and there’s the potential for plenty of foot traffic from nearby attractions like the Bluebird Theater. 

Sure, the Colfax BRT construction remains ongoing outside, but there’s light at the end of that tunnel, as well. 

In fact, the biggest immediate threat to the new Enzo’s success might be its current branding. Campari notes that he made all the menus, banners and the “Enzo’s” posters adorning the restaurant’s walls himself … and let’s just say we hope he’s a better pizza maker than a designer. The AI imagery used throughout is ultra-cringe and a serious distraction from what otherwise looks like it might be a decent pizza. 

We’re taking a “don’t judge a book by its cover” approach until trying a slice ourselves.

Enzo’s Brick Oven Pizza is located at 424 E. Colfax Ave. and is open from 4 p.m to midnight Sunday through Thursday, and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.