After selling Hat Tricks, his popular Lewisville sports bar, in 2015, it seemed like it would be only a matter of time before Tony Avezzano would be back in the restaurant game. With the opening of Yonkers Pizza Company in Dallas, Avezzano not only returns as owner, but does so in a highly personal manner.

As much as it is anything else, the new venture is a tribute to Avezzano’s late father, Joe Avezzano. Popularly known as “Coach Joe,” the elder Avezzano was a memorably colorful member of the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff during the team’s legendary ’90s glory years. The father and son duo were longtime business partners up until Joe’s death in 2012 from a heart attack, when he was coaching in Milan, Italy.